Despite chilly weather, Tallahassee's Martin Luther King Day activities brought out several hundred people. Much of the observance took place at Cascades Park.
Lots of musical performers were working the stage of the Park's Adderley Amphitheatre. Meanwhile, in the nearby Parkview Ballroom, Florida State University Civil Rights Institute Director Ted Ellis was talking about the impact of art in the struggle for equality.
"In a subtle sense, or in a very obvious way, we need to use and leverage it."
Among the several dozen in the audience was Fred Flowers. He broke FSU's athletic color barrier in the 1960s when he joined the school's baseball team.
"It's just a great thing with Ted Ellis and the way art can touch people. I'm amazed by that myself."
Ellis, himself an accomplished artist, included several of his own portraits of civil rights leaders in the discussion.
