The late former SDLP leader and Foyle MP John Hume and wife Pat
The John and Pat Hume Foundation, which was launched last week, is a cross-community project which aims to nurture the legacy of Mr Hume and his wife Pat and to encourage and help those seeking to bring about peaceful change.
Mr Hume, a Nobel Peace Prize winner and prominent politician throughout the years of the Troubles, died in August at the age of 83.
He had been battling ill-health for a number of years.
Marther Luther King III introduced his inaugural lecture by paying tribute to Mr Hume who he said was dedicated to the same principles as his father who was assassinated in 1968.
“I know from my visit to Derry in 2013 how much my father, Martin Luther King Junior was an inspiration to John and Pat from the early days of the civil rights in Northern Ireland and to achieving lasting peace in Ireland,” Mr King, a US human rights advocate said.
Foundation chairman Sean Farren, a former SDLP assembly member, said it was fitting that the inaugural event linked Mr and Mrs Hume to Martin Luther King and the US civil rights movement.
Dr Farren said: “John frequently acknowledged the inspiration that movement (the US movement) provided to the civil rights movement in Northern Ireland.
The Foundation’s partner for last night’s lecture was Politics in Action, an organisation which seeks to give young people a voice on political and social issues.
A mural in the Bogside puts John Hume alongside Martin Luther King Jr, Mother Teresa, and Nelson Mandela
Mr Weil said that despite protests outside the school, Mr Hume’s address was “magical”.
The next event organised by the Foundation will be a virtual shared home place discussion on “Unfinished Business of Reconciliation”.
It will be held next Tuesday, November 24, at 7 pm.
The event will be released through a number of social media platforms.
