![\"Martin](\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/mlk\/files\/2021\/01\/Mays_King_2.jpg\")
<\/a>The format, an all-college gathering followed by a full day of talks, panels, presentation, performance, and film, was influenced by the unique circumstances surrounding the 1991 King Day observance<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Jan. 16, 1991, the Persian Gulf War began, the U.S.’s first major armed conflict in a generation. Two days later, the Bates faculty voted to cancel classes on MLK Day \u2014 Monday, Jan. 21 \u2014 “in honor of and to reflect upon Dr. King’s contributions to world peace, and to reflect upon the issues of peace and justice in the Middle East,” in the words of Professor of Religion Marcus Bruce ’77.<\/p>\n\n\n\n An all-college convocation began the MLK Day programming, followed by a full day of events, many using King’s life and legacy as a means to understand the myriad issues at play, planned and deployed by an-hoc faculty committee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Though the format we know today emerged in the 1990s, Bates has observed King’s birthday since the 1980s. In 1986, the first year the federal holiday was observed, Bates welcomed Odella Williamson, a former NAACP chapter leader, to campus. By 1996, this now-familiar Monday format \u2014 morning convocation, including a keynote speaker, and a day of discussion in lieu of classes \u2014 was firmly in place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2003\u201304, the college’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day Planning Committee<\/a> became a standing committee of the faculty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The 2025 keynote speaker is scholar and author Erica Chenoweth<\/a>, an expert in mass movements, nonviolent resistance, terrorism, political violence, revolutions, and state repression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2025 Schedule of Events<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Read Bates News coverage<\/a> of the celebration<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bryant Terry<\/strong><\/a>, an award-winning chef, food justice activist, and critically acclaimed author.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2024 Schedule of Events<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Read Bates News coverage of the keynote<\/a> and visit this immersive photo and video<\/a> story about the day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Keith Hamilton Cobb<\/a><\/strong>, actor and playwright who wrote the award-winning play American Moor<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n 2023 Schedule of Events<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Five-person panel<\/strong><\/a> of Maine-based thinkers, practitioners, and activists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2022 Schedule of Events<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Angela Davis<\/strong><\/a>, author and scholar, and activist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2021 Schedule of Events<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Jennifer Lynn Eberhardt<\/strong><\/a>, author of the 2019 book Biased: Uncovering the Hidden Prejudice That Shapes What We See, Think, and Do<\/em> and a psychology professor at Stanford.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2020 Schedule of Events<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Barbara Ransby<\/strong><\/a> (postponed to March 2019 due to weather), a Distinguished Professor of African American studies, gender and women\u2019s studies, and history at the University of Illinois at Chicago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2019 Schedule of Events<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Na\u2019ilah Suad Nasir<\/strong>,<\/a> education researcher and president of the Spencer Foundation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2018 Schedule of Events<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Khalil Gibran Muhammad<\/a>,<\/strong> author and Professor of History, Race and Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2017 Schedule of Events<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n William Jelani Cobb<\/strong>,<\/a> staff writer for The New Yorker<\/em> and a history professor and director of the Africana Studies Institute at the University of Connecticut.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2016 Schedule of Events<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Peniel Joseph<\/strong><\/a>, professor at Tufts, author and authority on the Black Power movement. \u201cThey want an expansive vision of social, economic and political justice that connects democratic ideals to democratic reality.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2015 Schedule of Events<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Gary Younge<\/strong>,<\/a> English journalist and author The Speech: The Story Behind Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.\u2019s Dream<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2014 Schedule of Events<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Anthea Butler,<\/a><\/strong> author, religious studies scholar and media commentator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n S2013 Schedule of Events<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Julian Agyeman<\/a>,<\/strong> environmental policy expert.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Rev. James Lawson<\/strong><\/a>,<\/em> an influential advocate of non-violent activism who worked closely with King in the 1950s and \u201960s<\/p>\n\n\n\n Barbara Savage<\/strong><\/a>, Geraldine R. Segal Professor of American Thought at the University of Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Melissa Harris-Lacewell<\/strong><\/a>, associate professor of politics and African American studies at Princeton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Rev. Lawrence Edward Carter Jr<\/strong>.,<\/a> Morehouse College professor of religion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cleveland Sellers<\/strong>,<\/a> civil rights activist and historian.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sharon Harley<\/strong><\/a>, pioneer in the field of African American women’s history and chair of the Department of African American Studies, University of Maryland, College Park.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Rev. John Mendez<\/strong><\/a>, pastor of the Emmanuel Baptist Church, Winston-Salem, N.C., and the Winston-Salem Chronicle<\/em>‘s 1994 Man of the Year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Alex Dupuy<\/strong><\/a>, professor of sociology and Latin American studies at Wesleyan University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Joanne Grant<\/strong><\/a>, award-winning filmmaker, a writer and veteran civil rights activist of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n James H. Cone<\/strong><\/a>, America’s pre-eminent black theologian.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jualynne E. Dodson<\/strong>, associate professor of Afro-American studies and religious studies at the University of Colorado, Boulder; Joanne Bland<\/strong>, tour director of the National Voting Rights Museum; and the Rev. James Foster Reese<\/strong>, director emeritus of the racial ethnic ministry unit for the Presbyterian Church (USA).<\/p>\n\n\n\n William R. Jones, <\/strong>philosopher, educator and minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n John Edgar Wideman<\/strong><\/a>, author and two-time winner of the PEN\/Faulkner Award<\/p>\n\n\n\n Henri F. Norris<\/strong>, attorney, activist, and founder of New Millenia Films; led effort to distribute the movie Follow Me Home<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Charlayne Hunter-Gault<\/strong>, journalist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The first time since 1991 the faculty voted to cancel classes to devote the day to programming<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Clarence Page<\/strong><\/a>, Pulitzer-prize winning journalist, author, and columnist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The centennial celebration of Benjamin Mays’ birth<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Andrew Young<\/strong>, civil rights activist, ambassador, Atlanta mayor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Roger Wilkins<\/strong>, commentator and journalist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dorothy Butler Gilliam<\/a><\/strong>, columnist for The Washington Post<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Julius L. Chambers<\/a><\/strong>, director of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Donald W. Harward<\/a>,<\/strong> president of Bates.<\/p>\n\n\n\nList of MLK Keynote Speakers<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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