Queens College will host its annual celebration of the life and legacy of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., marking what has become the signature MLK Day event in Queens and one of the most prominent in New York City.
The event will take place in the borough’s largest indoor auditorium, the Kupferberg Center for the Arts, and will feature a mix of inspiring speeches, performances, and historical reflections.
The celebration, which will be held on Jan. 19 from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m., is presented in partnership with Queens Borough President Donovan Richards.
The event will include guest speakers, musical performances, and the premiere of the latest episode of the college’s documentary series on King’s connection to Queens College.
Branford Marsalis, a Grammy-award-winning saxophonist, will perform for the audience with his quartet.
Arva Rice, president and CEO of the New York Urban League, will receive the Queens College Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Award and give a keynote speech to attendees. Rice has served in her role for the past 15 years and is known for her community leadership work and dedication to building success for young girls and women. The New York Urban League has supported one million African Americans in the five boroughs for over a century through educational and employment programs.
Dr. King’s relationship with Queens College can be traced back to the 1960s.
In 1964, then Queens College student Andrew Goodman and fellow activists James Chaney and Michael Schwerner were murdered by the Klu Klux Klan as a result of their voter registration activism in Mississippi. Their deaths spurred public support in favor of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
The following spring, Dr. King was the inaugural speaker of Queens College’s John F. Kennedy Memorial Lecture Series and spoke on the impact of peaceful resistance. In 2015, at its 91st commencement ceremony—fifty years after Dr. King’s address—the college awarded Goodman a posthumous honorary doctoral degree.
Tickets for the event can be purchased here.
