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Photos: MLK Symposium

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Grammy award-nominated artist Janelle Monae performs at the MLK Symposium Student Concert at Michigan Theater. (Photo by Lin Jones, U-M Photo Services) Motivational speaker and author Les Brown delivers the Business and Finance 2009 Convocation at Rackham Auditorium. Brown, also a TV personality, spoke of how personal life stories enrich and connect people to others. Larry Wilmore, known as the “senior black correspondent” on “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,” brings his biting social satire to a packed audience at the Michigan Union Ballroom. During his stand-up comedy days, Wilmore said he had “developed a sense of what made him laugh: race and politics.” A writer, co-creator or creator for such shows as “In Living Color,” “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” “The Jamie Foxx Show,” “The PJs” and “The Bernie Mac Show,” Wilmore poked fun at presidents Obama and Nixon, among others. (Photo by Scott Galvin, U-M Photo Services) Internationally acclaimed bass-baritone Simon Estes performs “Dare to Dream” at the Mendelssohn Theatre, Michigan League. The grandson of a slave, Estes is known outside of opera houses as a generous philanthropist for youth music and humanitarian issues. (Photo by Lin Jones, U-M Photo Services) Participants in the third annual Circle of Unity join hands on the Diag to honor the memory of Martin Luther King Jr. Students, staff, faculty and community members braved the cold to sing freedom songs and listen to spoken word performances. (Photo by Scott Soderberg, U-M Photo Services) A drum circle serves as opportunity to learn more about Native American and Ojibwe culture, during Drumming and Beading for Dreamers of the Dream: Love Your Indian Day at the School of Social Work. The event also included traditional dancing and an interactive demonstration of Navajo beading. (Photo by Martin Vloet, U-M Photo Services) Activist blogger Sokari Ekine discusses lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex Africans in her talk “Does the LGBTI community have reason to celebrate?” The Jan. 21 lecture was sponsored by the School of Social Work. (Photo by Scott Galvin, U-M Photo Services)