The former Rev. Mark Morrison-Reed

will be speaking at 7 p.m. on Monday in the Sun Room at the

Memorial Union.

His speech, “Memoir of an

Integration Baby: On the Road to Tomorrow,” will be part of the

Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday Series.

“Because we are scared … we live

smaller lives than we would otherwise,” Morrison-Reed said. “We

want to create a condition where people look forward to getting to

know each other.”

According to the Iowa State Lectures

Program, the speech will focus on Morrison-Reed’s time growing up

during the civil rights movement as a black man, his struggle with

racism, having an interracial family and being one of the first

black Unitarian Universalist ministers.

The speech will also correspond with

one of Morrison-Reed’s books, “In Between: Memoir of an Integration

Baby.”

Morrison-Reed, who served as a

co-minister with his wife, Donna, for 26 years said that

multiculturalism is “just part of the structure of my

life.”

Morrison-Reed is no longer a

minister, but is now an author and speaker. Being born in 1949, he

grew up during a time of change as schools and the nation became

integrated.

“The story is about living at this

in between state,” Morrison-Reed said, who will be speaking on

“growing up on the cusp of integration.”

Morrison-Reed earned his M.A. from

the University of Chicago and his Doctor of Ministry from Meadville

Lombard Theological School.