Africana Panels at MLK Day 2026

Each year on MLK Day, our college puts together a full slate of panels focusing on a theme related to justice, civic participation, and the legacy of Dr. King. This year’s theme was “Love, Anger, and the Struggle for Justice,” and the program included three panels organized by Africana faculty:

Charles Nero, Benjamin E. Mays ’20 Distinguished Professor of Africana and Rhetoric, Film, and Screen Studies, hosted a discussion on the role of “Love, Anger, and the Struggle for Justice” in the 2025 film Sinners. The panel included Professors Dale Chapman (Africana, American Studies, and Music) and Stephanie Kelley-Romano (Rehtoric, Film, & Screen Studies); along with students Matthew Fox ’26, Bella Saul ’26 (an Africana minor), Aidan Stark-Chessa ’26, and Braedon Parker ’27, who were all enrolled in Professor Nero’s Fall 2025 course “White Redemption: Cinema and the Co-optation of African American History.”

(Sinners panel discussion. Photo credit: Bates Communications & Marketing.)

In addition, Professor Nero also co-facilitated a panel on Buddhism as represented in the television show The White Lotus.

(White Lotus Panel Discussion. Photo credit: Bates Communications & Marketing.)

And in another well-attended panel, Visiting Assistant Professor Temi Noah hosted a screening of the film Being Black in Hitler’s Germany, followed by a discussion and q+a with director John A. Kantara. The film highlights the upbringing of journalist Hans Massaquoi, who grew up Black in Nazi Germany and later became editor of Ebony Magazine.

These events are just a few examples of the dynamic range of MLK Day panels at Bates and the engaging ways that our college honors Dr. King’s legacy each year. For a deeper look at the day’s programming, see this overview.