Over 100 adults and children gathered at The Swain School Jan. 20, for the school's annual remembrance and tribute program for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the late civil rights leader who was assassinated in Memphis, Tenn., in April, 1968.

Todd Stansbery, head of The Swain School, set the tone for the day by reading an essay written by a seventh-grade Swain student as an extension to King's famous "I Have a Dream" speech delivered on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. Aug. 28, 1963.

Swain Middle School history teacher Chris Burns presented a slide show highlighting now-famous events in King's leadership of the African-American Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s.

Leading an adult breakout session during the morning's activities, Muhlenberg College anthropology professor Dr. Chris Kovats-Bernat spoke about how everyday heroism shown by everyday people can make a durable impression on those who witness even small acts of doing what is right.

Kovats-Bernat said even a simple act such as intervening when a child is being bullied in public can take tremendous courage, but have a lasting impact on the child, and on others who take heart in witnessing such an act, and themselves then standing up for someone else who is being abused.

He said the compassion of a school child sharing their lunch with a classmate who has forgotten theirs can sow the seeds of similar kindnesses passed to others in an almost unending string of circumstances.

"We have the ability to step outside ourselves because we don't want to be abandoned, and we hope our kindness will lead others to treat us in a similar way," Kovats-Bernet said.

Allentown City Council President Julio Guridy continued the day's theme of heroism by detailing the tremendous courage King had in espousing a non-violent response to the violence and discrimination shown to minorities in America.

Carmen Twillie Ambar, president of Cedar Crest College, also stressed the importance of unsung heroes in everyday life. "Because of the connection our identity gives us to the world around us," Ambar said, "we owe something back to our world.

Ambar listed a number of women who stood out for their heroism in circumstances unique to their own lives. She held up a young woman who first stood in protest because of discrimination in housing she endured when she was a young teenager.

"You can be an unsung hero at any age," Ambar stressed. If that young girl had not first stood up for unfair housing rights at the age of 14, nothing would have changed, Ambar said, but her protests led to a series of changes having a positive effect on the lives of untold numbers in the housing projects where she lived.

Ambar challenged both adults and children in her audience, urging them "to be on the plus side of life" by their little acts of heroism.

Bonnie McClintock Cohen, vocal music director for The Swain School, led the audience in the singing of civil rights anthems of the 1960s.

There were many moist eyes among those who clasped hands, sang and swayed to a heart-felt rendition of "We Shall Overcome."