2002 Martin Luther King Jr. LectureFeaturing Philip Bryant

Dr. Phil Bryant

The 2002 Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Lecture was held on Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2002 featuring Dr. Philip Bryant, associate professor of English at Gustavus.

Dr. Bryant presented "Martin Luther King's Dream and Mapping a Geography of the Free Range." The lecture explored the possibility of a common American culture that, although very racially and ethnically diverse in its make up, can bridge differences and divisions that exist and have existed historically between the various people in this country in order to form a "more perfect union."

A Chicago native, Bryant graduated from Chicago Vocational High School in 1969. Then he received a B.A. in English from Gustavus Adolphus College and an M.F.A. in creative writing from Columbia University's School of the Arts. From 1975-1989 he taught at various colleges and universities in the Chicago area. Since 1989 he has taught at Gustavus. A writer, he has had poems published in Minnesota Monthly, North Coast Review, The Iowa Review, The Indiana Review, The American Poetry Review, and Nimrod. In 1997 his book of poetry, Blue Island, was published by Crossroads Press. His work has been nominated for a Minnesota Book Award and a Forward Award.