Kathryn Harris featured at annual Kinzie/King Breakfast
Historian and Activist is known as Illinois’ ‘First Lady of History’

[January 05, 2018] 

LINCOLN

Lincoln College is pleased to announce that tickets are now available for the 10th annual Joyce Kinzie/Martin Luther King, Jr. Breakfast.

Illinois’ “First Lady of History” Kathryn Harris will be the keynote speaker for the Breakfast, which will be held Monday, Jan. 15, in the Davidson-Sheffer Gymnasium on the Lincoln College campus. The doors will open at 7:30 a.m. with the program beginning at 8 a.m.

This event raises funds exclusively for the Martin Luther King, Jr. Minority Student Scholarship. Co-founded in 2009 by Rev. Glenn Shelton and Lincoln businesswoman Joyce Kinzie, who passed away in 2010, the scholarship assists a Logan County minority student while attending Lincoln College. Since Ms. Kenzie’s passing, the annual breakfast has continued at Lincoln College, honoring her accomplishments and wishes to provide academic assistance to students.

The event features a buffet breakfast and entertainment from the 2nd Baptist Youth Choir and the Lincoln College Chorale along with remarks by this year’s MLK Scholarship recipient Samantha Johnson, and keynote speaker Kathryn Harris.

Harris is not only known for her 35-year career as a librarian, first at the Illinois State Historical Library and then at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library, but also for her portrayal of historical figures such as Harriet Tubman, Elizabeth Keckley, Sadie DeLaney, and Jarena Lee. Many organizations have benefited from Harris’ leadership including the Illinois Library Association, Springfield and Central Illinois African-American History Museum, Illinois Humanities Council, Springfield’s Mayor’s Study Circle on Race, and the Abraham Lincoln Association, where she was the first African-American and first female president. Recently Harris was named as a Paul Harris Fellow by Rotary International, and has been dubbed “Illinois’ First Lady of History” by Illinois Heritage Magazine.

Tickets are $10; seating is limited so reservations are recommended. Call Jen McMillin at Lincoln College (217-735-7210 or [e-mail]) to reserve tickets to pick up at the door. Tickets for the event are also available at the Lincoln Heritage Museum (1115 Nicholson Rd, Lincoln, IL 62656), By the Bean (113 S. Kickapoo St., Lincoln, IL 62656), or from committee members Les Plotner and Rev. Glenn Shelton. Tickets will be available at the door if seating is still available.

[Mark Gordon
Public Relations and Media Manager
Lincoln College]