Dartmouth’s Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration this month will include a fireside chat with Bernice A. King, the CEO of the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change and the youngest child of the civil rights icon.
Her conversation with author and scholar Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 28, at the Hanover Inn and will focus on “The Urgency of Now—A Time for Truth and Action,” the theme of this month’s celebration of Martin Luther King Jr.’s life and legacy.
The talk will also be available via livestream.
Bernice King champions the principles of justice and peace that defined her parents’ lives. The King Center was founded by her mother, Coretta Scott King, and serves as the official living memorial to the life and work of Martin Luther King Jr. In her role as chief executive officer of The King Center, King advances this legacy of nonviolent principles and social change through research, education, training, advocacy, and activism. The King Center has created The Beloved Community Talks, a platform for courageous conversations aimed at developing open dialogue, practical solutions, and promoting understanding around complex racial and social justice issues impacting our world.
In 2020, King was influential in encouraging Atlanta business leaders to actively support racial equity and social justice issues, including the successful passage of hate crime legislation in Georgia. She is the recipient of two Phoenix Awards, which recognize individuals who have made significant contributions to society. The first was presented in 2020 by the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, and the second was in 2023 from the City of Atlanta in recognition of her outstanding achievements and service to the city, state, nation, and world. King has received honorary degrees from Wesley College, Clinton College, Spelman College, and Grinnell College.
“The ‘Urgency of Now’ theme resulted from the Dartmouth MLK Committee’s desire to inspire and promote in others not just the value of awareness of injustices in the world, but also the crucial next step of doing something to alleviate them,” says Associate Vice President for Inclusion and Strategic Engagement Tennille Haynes of Institutional Diversity and Equity, which is hosting the event.
“Ultimately, it calls us all to awaken an innate desire to move past our daily fears and distractions and proactively explore, promote, and seek justice.”
Taylor, who is moderating the conversation with King, is a professor in the Department of African-American Studies at Princeton University and a 2021 MacArthur Foundation Fellow. As a leading voice on Black politics and racial justice, she authored Race for Profit, a Pulitzer finalist. In 2023, Taylor co-founded Hammer & Hope, a magazine of Black politics and culture, and is also a contributing writer at The New Yorker.
The fireside chat will be followed by a book signing, during which the first 25 people in line will receive a complimentary book by Bernice King.
Advance registration to attend the talk is requested.
The MLK celebration at Dartmouth this month also includes:
- A photo exhibit, “Different Roots, Common Dreams,” by award-winning photographer Becky Field, that documents the vitality and diversity of New Hampshire’s immigrants. Join the Dartmouth Health International Employee Resource Group and the Arts & Humanities Program on Tuesday, Jan. 13, from 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. for an evening with community partners and an artist engagement at the DHMC Williamson Gallery.
- The Martin Luther King Jr. employee breakfast, from 8:30 to 10 a.m. on Monday, Jan. 19, in the Class of 1953 Commons North Dining Hall. Registration is open for the breakfast, which is hosted by the Department of Human Resources. Space is limited. Reservations are required by noon on Friday, Jan. 16.
- “I Am the Dream: the Past, Present, and Future,” an awards luncheon hosted by Geisel School of Medicine, from noon to 1:30 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 19, in Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center auditorium E and F. The annual event recognizes individuals or organizations who have strengthened communities and created solutions to social problems, advancing Martin Luther King’s vision of a “beloved community.” The keynote speaker will be Uché Blackstock, a physician, thought leader, and founder of Advancing Health Equity, an organization dedicated to partnering with health care institutions to dismantle racism and close racial health gaps. Blackstock was the keynote speaker at Dartmouth’s 2023 Social Justice Awards.
- The Dartmouth Community Reading Group’s first book of 2026 will be King: A Life, the Pulitzer Prize-winning biography by Jonathan Eig, and free copies will be available starting Monday, January 19. Register for a free copy.
- The annual Martin Luther King Jr. Multifaith Community Celebration will be held on Thursday, Jan. 22, from 5 to 6 p.m. at Rollins Chapel. The service is sponsored by the William Jewett Tucker Center.
- The Hopkins Center for the Arts will show various related films throughout January and February, one of which will be Omoiyari: A Song Film by Kishi Bashi at 7 p.m. on Feb 6 in Loew Auditorium. The uplifting film follows violinist Kishi Bashi on a musical journey to understand the incarceration of Japanese Americans in World War II and what it means to be a minority in America today. Discussion follows with Kishi Bashi and Nora Yasumura, who formerly served as assistant dean of student life and advisor to Pan Asian students at Dartmouth.
More information on the Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration is available.
