The Yale and New Haven communities will commemorate the life and legacy of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. during a series of events on campus, including a keynote address by his eldest son, Martin Luther King III.
Campus celebrations, which will also include library exhibits highlighting King’s contributions, a poetry contest, an exploration of King’s influence on environmental justice and a love march, are part of the annual commemoration on campus. from the university of the famous preacher and civil rights activist.
This year marks the first time in three years that events will be held in person on campus following virtual celebrations due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Many of this year’s events will be hybrid; participants can attend in person or view events online.
‘Sanctuary in the Storm’: Martin Luther King III Keynote Lecture
Martin Luther King III’s keynote address will begin on Wednesday, January 18 at 5:30 p.m. ; Healing in action”.
Registration is required for the free event, which will also be streamed live on Yale’s YouTube channel. Doors will open at 5:15 p.m. and masks are required to enter Woolsey Hall.
In his speech, King will address the continuing need to fight for civil rights in the US and around the world, what it takes to stay committed to a more just society, and the importance of protecting dedicated advocates. their lives to this job. .
Read more about the event.
King’s legacy of social and environmental justice
The Yale Peabody Museum, in collaboration with the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) and the Museum of New Haven, will host the 27th Annual Environmental and Social Justice Legacy of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a program of free events that are open to all. The event takes place on Sunday and Monday, January 15 and 16; all offers can be enjoyed in person or via Zoom.
The event will kick off Sunday with family stories and dances at the Museum of New Haven, 114 Whitney Ave., from 12:30 pm to 3:30 pm The event features family-friendly programs celebrating King’s life and legacy. Storytellers Joy Donaldson, Waltrina Kirkland and Clifton Graves will share fables, anecdotes and stories that honor King’s work and his impact on the movement for justice. Ms. Hanan’s Dance and Beyond will present an interactive performance of cultural dance and drumming from the African Diaspora. DEEP partners and the Amistad Committee will host kids’ activities throughout the New Haven Museum, and Peabody Museum scientists will introduce attendees to fascinating specimens from the paleobotanical collection. Events are free, but space is limited. Register to attend in person or to attend via Zoom. Masks are required at the New Haven Museum.
The Z Experience Poetry Slam will take place Monday from 11:30 am to 2:30 pm in the OC Marsh Lecture Room of the Yale Science Building, 260 Whitney Ave. Poets and performers Croilot and Ngoma will present of the spoken word experience. , which honors the founder of the Zannette Lewis poetry contest. Following the Croilot and Ngoma stories, a shortlist of poets will compete in the poetry contest and there will be a curated open mic. During the event, participants can also visit tables hosted by the National Council of Black Women and the New Haven African American Historical Society to hear about the work being done in the groups’ communities. Museum staff will provide the latest information on the Peabody Museum’s renovation. This event is appropriate for adults and young adults at the discretion of a parent or guardian. Please read Yale’s vaccination and mask requirements before attending. Register to attend in person; or to attend via Zoom.
Free parking for these events is available at Yale Lot 22, 260 Whitney Ave.
53rd Annual March of Love
Created to uphold the notion of nonviolence, the March of Love is now in its 53rd year and will take place on Sunday, January 15 from 10:30 am to 1 pm The march will begin at Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church, 100 Lawrence St. in New Haven. This year’s theme is “Push Without Stress,” which aims to speak to the ongoing injustices that African-Americans continue to experience. King used the marches as a way to confront community and national issues while working in unity with others for positive change. The event is open to the public.
‘The Kings at Yale’
Martin Luther King Jr. visited Yale in 1959, 1962, and 1964, and his wife Coretta Scott King visited the campus in 1969. “The Kings at Yale,” an exhibit in the nave of the Sterling Memorial Library at 120 High St. from the Yale Library’s Manuscripts and Archives collections and documents their visits.
King was first invited to Yale in 1959 by an undergraduate lecture committee. He spoke about “The future of integration”. When he returned to Yale in 1964 to receive an honorary doctorate, just two days before he had been released on bail from a St. Augustine, Florida jail, where he had been arrested for ordering food from a “whites only” motel. “. King’s honorary title sparked public debate across the country.
Coretta Scott King was named the first Frances Blanshard Fellow at Yale in 1969, one year after King’s assassination. While she was on campus, she met with female graduate students and spoke to a standing room only crowd in Woolsey Hall about the importance of campus riots in addressing social injustices.
Materials on display at “The Kings at Yale” are reproductions of records from the Yale Office of the President, Kingman Brewster, the Office of Public Affairs and Communications, photographs of Yale events and activities, photographs of buildings and grounds, the Helen Hadley Hall scholarship program, and Yale news. The exhibit will be open through February 23 and will be open during library hours. It can also be viewed online.
A one-day exhibition at the Beinecke Library
On Monday, January 16, from noon to 4 p.m. Reading room. Many of the materials on view come from the library’s James Weldon Johnson Memorial Collection of African American Arts and Letters, highlighting King’s life, legacy, impact, and long-running civil rights movement in the United States.
All visitors must check bags, coats, and personal effects in secure lockers on the ground floor of the library before entering the reading room. Space may be limited and last entry will be at 3:30 pm COVID-19 vaccinations are required for all guests ages 5 and older, and proof of vaccination may be required.
On Monday, January 23, from 4:00 pm to 4:30 pm The session will be led by Tubyez Cropper, Jennifer Coggins, and Michael Morand of the Beinecke Library, and by Scott Libson of the Yale Divinity School Library as part of the “Mondays at Beinecke” online chat series. Register to attend the Zoom session.
King and Langston Hughes
The Beinecke Library will also house a temporary exhibit on its mezzanine highlighting the friendship between Martin Luther King Jr. and the poet Langston Hughes, drawn from the library’s Langston Hughes Papers. The collection served as a key source for a 2015 book by Jason W. Miller of North Carolina State University called “Origins of the Dream: Hughes’s Poetry and King’s Rhetoric.”
The exhibit features a selection of materials about a meeting between Hughes and King related to a tribute to union leader A. Philip Randolph in January 1960. King requested that Hughes write a poem for the event. The correspondence between King and Hughes has been digitized and is also available online.
King’s ecosystem engineering legacy
The Yale School of the Environment (YSE) Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion will present a talk by Nyeema Harris, Knobloch Family Associate Professor of Land and Wildlife Conservation, on the ecosystem engineering legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. The talk will take place on January 23 from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at Kroon Hall, 195 Prospect St.
Harris, who joined the YSE faculty in 2021, does work that spans the globe and ecosystems, including urban settings, the tropics, and African protected areas. She is especially interested in inclusive studies that contribute to promoting the persistence and coexistence of wildlife.
His talk is free and open to the public, but advance registration is required. Lunch will be provided.
View all MLK commemoration events at mlk.yale.edu.
