WSU communication Prof. Padgett comments on impact of 'I Have A Dream' speech...
The Detroit News
"Metro Detroiters join 'Let Freedom Ring' celebration of MLK"
by Mark Hicks
From bell-ringing to trips to the nation's capital, Metro Detroiters today are marking the milestone of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech that in the past half-century has embedded itself in the American consciousness. Donyale Padgett, an assistant professor of diversity, culture and communication at Wayne State University, commented about how the speech and march in Detroit is credited with helping push legislation, including the civil and voting rights acts of 1964-65, "that played a role in helping to equalize systems of oppression against people of color in this country," she said. "For many blacks in this country, opening the doors of access was all they needed."