Martin Luther Day Jr celebrations & commemoration events

Martin Luther King Jr Day is on Monday. In an effort to prevent further spread of the coronavirus, there are no in-person events open to the public that we are aware of but there are some virtual celebrations of the most visible leader of civil rights movement.

LOCAL EVENTS:

• The Palm Springs Black History Committee is hosting a Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Commemoration Celebration on Sunday, Jan. 17 at 2 pm
  • You can watch it live on their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/events/411852633205295/

(If you are aware of an event that isn't on this list, let us know. Send us a message at Facebook.com/KESQNewsChannel3 or send an email to Share@KESQ.com)

NATIONAL EVENTS:

• The King Center is hosting a commemorative service Monday morning starting at 7:30 a.m. PT.
  • You can watch it live on their Facebook page:
    www.facebook.com/thekingcenter/videos/332079984584325

• The California African American Museum is hosting a celebration of King's life from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
  • Click here to RSVP for the event
  • 10 a.m.
    Musical Welcome from ICYOLA
    Kick off CAAM’s MLK Day Celebration with members of the Inner City Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles (ICYOLA), the largest majority Black orchestra in America. Enjoy a beautiful rendition of “Lift Every Voice and Sing” followed by a mellow set to ease you into the holiday.
  • 11:00 am
    King Study Group
    Join the King Study Group to engage with King’s speech in support of Memphis Sanitation Workers. Delivered the day before he was assassinated in 1968, this speech is commonly known by the theme in its concluding paragraph: "I've been to the mountaintop." The speech is most remembered for that chilling phrase, which foreshadowed his untimely death, but King's true message was about economic power, workers’ rights, and the strengthening of Black institutions.
  • 1:00 pm
    Black Workers and Social Justice: From Memphis, 1968, to Today
    The labor movement was—and remains—essential to the struggle for racial equity and civil rights. King's final campaign was undertaken to support striking sanitation workers in Memphis, Tennessee. Hear a distinguished panel discuss the struggle in Memphis, the right to strike, and Black labor's role in the California economy and in today's movement for social change. Panelists include Janel Bailey, Co-Executive Director of Organizing and Programs at the Los Angeles Black Worker Center; Steven Pitts, Associate Director emeritus of UC Berkeley Labor Center and host of the podcast, Black Work Talk; and sanitation worker Rodney Fowler Sr., Vice President District 5, American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees District Council 36, and President, Local 127, San Diego. The panel will be moderated by CAAM’s History Curator, Susan D. Anderson.
  • 2:30 pm
    Family Story Time and Poetry Workshop
    Close out the holiday with this family program celebrating MLK. Author Alice Faye Duncan will read excerpts from her children's book, Memphis, Martin, and the Mountaintop: The Sanitation Strike of 1968, followed by a haiku writing workshop.