The City of Aurora will continue a four-decades-long tradition of honoring the life and legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. during the 40th Annual MLK Ceremony at East Aurora High School, 500 Tomcat Lane. 

The ceremony will feature remarks by dignitaries, youth and adult performances, and presentation of the Donna J. Williams MLK Service Awards and the Services Above Self MLK Youth Awards. 

This year’s keynote speaker is the incomparable Dr. Michael Eric Dyson. 

Named one of the top 100 most influential Black leaders of our time, Dr. Michael Eric Dyson is one of the nation’s most renowned professors, gifted authors, inspiring preachers, knowledgeable lecturers, and prominent public intellectuals. 

The Centennial Chair at Vanderbilt University, Dr. Dyson also serves as the university’s Distinguished Professor of African American and Diaspora Studies in the College of Arts and Science and its Distinguished Professor of Ethics and Society in the Divinity School.   r. Dyson has also taught at other elite universities, such as Georgetown University as a sociology professor, Brown University, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Columbia University, and The University of Pennsylvania.

A noted author of 21 books, Dr. Dyson has written extensively about Dr. King and penned two books about his life and legacy.  In his acclaimed book I May Not Get There with You: The True Martin Luther King, Jr., Dyson challenges the common portrayals of King, offering a more nuanced perspective that highlights King's radical critique of systemic inequality, poverty, and militarism.   His bestselling book April 4, 1968: Martin Luther King Jr.'s Death and How It Changed America explores the profound impact of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination on the United States and the world, shedding light on how it altered the trajectory of the Civil Rights Movement and the ongoing fight for racial justice

Through his scholarship and public speaking, Dyson seeks to keep King's legacy alive while urging society to embrace the full depth of King's transformative vision.

Dyson's legendary ascent – from welfare father to Princeton Ph.D., from church pastor to college professor, from a factory worker who didn’t start college until he was 21 -- may help explain why writer Naomi Wolf terms him “the ideal public intellectual of our time.”

The ceremony is free, but registration is required:

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