Queens College Commemorates Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Sunday, January 14, With Music and a Focus on Engaging Youth and Dr. King’s Enduring Connection to the College; Free and Open to the Public
–Honoree Jennifer Jones Austin, Esq., CEO and Executive Director, Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies, will deliver the keynote address; prospective students are invited to an admissions resource fair before the event–
WHAT: The college’s annual celebration of the life and legacy of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., featuring guest speakers, musical performances, and the premiere of the latest episode in the college’s docuseries on Dr. King’s connection to the college.
Prior to the commemoration ceremony, at 12 pm, the college will host an admissions resource fair in the Dining Hall to offer prospective students the opportunity to learn about degree programs, admissions procedures, and financial aid options. Click here for a campus map.
Full details are available on the commemorative event website here. RSVP for free tickets to the commemoration here.
WHO: President Frank H. Wu will moderate. William Baron, Queens College Student Association President, and Makayla Noble, Queens College Black Student Union President, will bring greetings.
Jennifer Jones Austin, Esq., will be recognized with the 2024 Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Award and deliver the keynote address. Austin, the CEO and Executive Director of the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies (FPWA), is a fourth-generation faith and social justice leader, who fights for equity. FPWA is an anti-poverty, policy, and advocacy organization with 170 member agencies and faith partners; significant social policy changes that have strengthened and empowered the disenfranchised and marginalized have been brought about under Austin’s leadership. Her approach links an understanding of race, poverty, law and social policy in America and the role of religion. Please click here for Austin’s full bio.
The Queens College Treble Chorus, conducted by Morgan Jolley, Ithaca professor of Music Education, and accompanied by pianist Russell Paul, will perform.
WHEN: Sunday, January 14, 2024, from 3 to 5 pm
WHERE: Queens College, LeFrak Concert Hall, Music Building, 65-30 Kissena Blvd., Flushing, NY 11367
Click here for directions to campus and here for a campus map.
Background
Queens College has a longstanding history of involvement in the struggle for equality and social justice. In 1964, Queens College student Andrew Goodman was slain, along with fellow civil rights workers James Chaney and Michael Schwerner, during a voter registration project in Mississippi. The following spring, as the inaugural speaker in the college’s John F. Kennedy Memorial Lecture Series, Dr. King emphasized the power of peaceful resistance. Click here to listen to segments of Dr. King’s 1965 speech at Queens College. In 2015, at its 91st commencement ceremony—and fifty years after Dr. King’s address—the college awarded a posthumous honorary doctoral degree to Goodman.
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