Queens College Celebrates Martin Luther King Jr. Day On January 19

Queens College annual celebration of the life and legacy of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. will feature a recognition ceremony, keynote address, guest speakers, a musical performance, and the premiere of the latest episode in the college's docuseries marking 60 years this spring when King spoke at QC.

Taking place Sunday, January 19, 2025, from 3 to 5 pm at Queens College, Colden Auditorium, Kupferberg Center for the Arts, the event is presented in partnership with Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, Jr. This year's theme is “We Have and Shall Overcome.” 

Full details, including ticket information, are available on the commemorative event website here. 

Event to feature: 

President Frank H. Wu will moderate. Cosponsor Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, Jr. will speak. Arva Rice, president and CEO of the New York Urban League, will deliver the keynote address as the 2025 recipient of the Queens College Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Award. Queens College Student Association President William Barron and Queens College Black Student Union President Gabrielle Gayle will bring greetings. A special video message from New York State Senator and Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer will be presented at the event. The Branford Marsalis Quartet will perform.

Donovan Richards Jr., a lifelong resident of Southeast Queens, was elected borough president in November 2020. He has allocated more than $272 million in capital funding to Queens' schools, cultural institutions, hospitals, libraries, and parks during his tenure. In the wake of Hurricane Ida, Richards formed Operation Urban Sustainability to combat climate change; and in support of the borough's more than one million immigrants, he created the Immigrant Welcome Center at Queens Borough Hall in 2021. His efforts to rebuild the borough's economy post-pandemic include the creation of the Queens Small Business Grant program, securing a commitment from JetBlue to keep its headquarters in Queens, and overseeing the redevelopment of both LaGuardia and Kennedy Airports. Richards has also developed programs to empower historically disadvantaged communities through such initiatives as the Youth and Young Adult Council, Downtown Jamaica Improvement Council, the Queens Tech + Innovation Challenge, and Borough Hall on Your Block. 

Arva Rice has served as president and CEO of the New York Urban League (NYUL) for over fifteen years. For over 100 years, the New York Urban League has empowered underserved African Americans in the five boroughs, emphasizing education and employment and assisting over one million people to date. Rice, a prominent community leader who has dedicated herself to creating pathways to success for young people, especially girls and women, also served as interim chair of the Civilian Complaint Review Board, a member of the Women's Forum and Greater New York Chapter of the Links Incorporated, and trustee at First Corinthians Baptist Church. As a 2013–2014 Annie Casey Fellow, she participated in an intensive applied leadership program for government and nonprofit leaders focused on supporting innovative solutions for children. Rice graduated from Northwestern University.

Three-time Grammy award-winning saxophonist Branford Marsalis has been recognized as a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master, considered the highest honor that the nation can bestow on jazz artists. Marsalis, a leading figure in jazz and contemporary music, performs original compositions in addition to jazz and popular classics with his eponymous quartet. 

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 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.