The 2025 celebration theme is “Our Beloved Community: Protecting Freedom, Justice & Democracy.”

Schedule Of Events:

January 19, 2025
5 – 7 PM - Advocacy for Social Justice and MLK Countywide Committees
39th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Service of Celebration

Featured Keynote Speaker: Rev. Dr. Claude Shelby, Pastor Emeritus of Salem Baptist Church, Champaign, IL

The partnership of the Advocacy for Justice and the Countywide MLK Committee will celebrate the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. This event will highlight the academic achievement of local area high school students in announcing this year’s Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship recipients and include the presentation of the James R. Burgess, Jr. Award, Susan Freiburg Humanitarian Award, the Doris Hoskins Prestigious Community Service Award, and the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Outstanding Achievement Award.

Location: Krannert Center for the Performing Arts
Foellinger Great Hall
500 S. Goodwin Avenue, Urbana, IL

January 20, 2025
8:30 – 11 AM - 39th Annual Unity Breakfast

Community members are invited to attend the 39th Annual Unity Breakfast sponsored by the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Advocacy for Justice Committee and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and hosted by the Vineyard Church. Please join us as we honor Dr. King, the most important voice of the civil rights movement and recognize the 2025 Dr. King Scholarship recipients.

For more information, contact Domonic Cobb at [email protected].

Location:
Vineyard Church
1500 N. Lincoln Avenue, Urbana, IL

January 21, 2025

4:30 – 5:30 PM - MLK Celebration 2025 Lecture: Dr. Rebecca Ginsburg, Finding the Beloved Community in Prison

Each year a distinguished faculty member is asked to speak on the ideals and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.? This year’s speaker will be Dr. Rebecca Ginsburg, Associate Professor and director of the Education Justice Project, a comprehensive college-in-prison program that provides academic programs to incarcerated individuals and outreach services to the families of incarcerated people and returning citizens. EJP programs operate in Danville, Champaign, and Chicago, IL.

Access to college not only enhances the eventual earning prospects of incarcerated individuals. At their best, higher education in prison programs create loving, supportive, brave spaces within these violent environments. This talk explores the potential for creating education-based beloved communities within prisons and argues that truly committing to the values of such communities requires closing prisons down.?

Please email Medra Roberts-Southerland with questions or accommodation needs at? [email protected]

Location: OVCDEI 3rd floor, Conference Room 3080
614 E. Daniel Street, Champaign, IL

January 22, 2025

6 – 7:30 PM - MLK Champions

The MLK Champions recognition program will celebrate the MLK legacy by recognizing the power of community action to honor local partners, students, faculty, and staff who have dedicated their talents to enhancing the movement of justice, equity, and dignity. The evening will inspire and feature a keynote speaker and local community performers.? Featured keynote for the evening will be Ashley Etienne, Communications Strategist and senior advisor to our nation’s most powerful leaders: Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and Speaker Nancy Pelosi.?

Please register to attend.

For more information, please email Gina Lee-Olukoya at [email protected].

Click here to register

Location: Student Dining and Residential Programs
Building (SDRP), Multi-Purpose Room 2025
301 E. Gregory Drive, Champaign, IL

January 23, 2025

8pm - Illinois Fighting Illini Men’s Basketball game vs. Maryland Terrapins

The Illinois Men’s Basketball team will be playing their Big 10 rivals The University of Maryland Terrapins at 8:00 PM.  Tickets start from $24. To purchase tickets visit the Illinois Fighting Illini Men’s Basketball website. During half time there will be an acknowledgement of Martin Luther King Jr. and his legacy towards civil rights.

For additional information, please contact Stephon Fuqua at [email protected]

Location: State Farm Center
1800 S. 1st Street, Champaign, IL

January 29, 2025

12 PM - Rectifying “et al.” History: The Women of Brown Project Discussion of the Oliver Brown, et al. vs. Board of Education of Topeka

Guest speaker, Donna Rae Pearson, is a passionate curator who describes herself as a “radical historian, who gives under-represented groups agency to tell their stories in the most accessible way possible.” Please join the campus community for a discussion titled, “Rectifying “et al.” History: The Women of Brown Project,” where Donna will discuss Oliver Brown, et al. vs. Board of Education of Topeka and the twelve female plaintiffs in the 1954 Supreme Court case. These twelve women played a pivotal role in the Civil Rights Movement. May 2024 marked the 70th anniversary of this landmark case which overturned the 1896 Plessy vs. Ferguson case that?upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation laws, establishing the “separate but equal” doctrine.?

Please direct questions to Dr. Lisa Jackson at [email protected].

Time:
Doors open at 11:30 AM
Reception and Exhibit at 1 PM

Location: Illini Union, South Lounge
1401 W. Green Street, Urbana, IL

Date: January 19 - 31, 2025

Location: Various Venues in IL

Click here for more information