Eduardo J. Padrón
President
Office of the President
300 N.E. Second Avenue
Miami, Florida 33132-2297
305-237-3316
epadron@mdc.edu
Message From the President
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
MDC’s Freedom Tower to host Lincoln Bicentennial event
Miami Dade College will play a key role as our country celebrates the 200-year anniversary of one of our greatest presidents. And all of us can participate in the upcoming events in our community.
The Abraham Lincoln Birth Bicentennial Commission, appointed by the U.S. Congress, has organized town hall meetings, exhibits, school lessons and discussions that address President Lincoln’s legacy. That legacy is especially poignant for multicultural Miami, which joins 10 additional cities across the country chosen by the commission.
Starting this week, the commission will host “Lincoln, Miami and the American Dream,” a series of free (see ticket info below) events commemorating the 16th president's contributions to our country.
I want to call your attention to a special gathering scheduled at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts on Nov. 1. The main address will be delivered by Henry Louis Gates Jr., director of the W.E.B. DuBois Institute for African and African-American Studies at Harvard and author of Lincoln on Race and Slavery. There will also be performances by some of the city's best-known artistic organizations.
Following the event, there will be a reception at the Freedom Tower, featuring food and music from Lincoln’s era.
This is a wonderful chance to participate in a historic celebration, one that is very relevant to our time. I encourage you to reserve tickets as soon as possible. Tickets are necessary but free on a first-come, first-served basis, and can be obtained through the Arsht Center box office at 305-949-6722 or Web site: www.arshtcenter.org (scroll down to the Lincoln graphic).
Thank you.
Eduardo