The MIT community gathers every February for a celebration of the life and legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. Speakers have included leaders who are prominent both nationally and in the local Boston/Cambridge community, in accordance with Dr. King’s dual emphasis on global and local issues.

Hosted by President L. Rafael Reif, the 2021 Celebration will take place on Wednesday, February 10, 2021.

Schedule

11am - 12:30pm Online program to include:

• Keynote address by Ijeoma Oluo (see details below)
• Brief remarks by MIT Biological Engineering graduate student Corban Swain, Urban Studies and Planning undergraduate student Mimi Wahid, and Open Learning staff member Lana Scott
• Celebration of MLK Leadership Award winners: Dayme Delgado (UG), Marisa Gaetz (G), Natalie Petit (Staff), Helen Elaine Lee (Faculty), and PRIMES (Group)
• Musical selections by The Mastadonis Project

12:30pm - 1pm Community connections

Join other members of the MIT community in Zoom breakout rooms. There will be no agenda for this time. The student and staff speakers will be in attendance if you wish to share your thoughts about their words.
 

Ijeoma Oluo is an award-winning Seattle-based writer, speaker, and “Internet Yeller.”  She’s the author of the New York Times Best-Seller So You Want to Talk about Race. Her latest release is Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America.

Oluo’s work focuses primarily on issues of race and identity, feminism, social and mental health, social justice, the arts, and personal essay. Her writing has been featured in The Washington Post, NBC News, Elle Magazine, TIME, The Stranger, and The Guardian, among other outlets. 

Registration Information

Registration will be available on Wednesday, January 20, 2021

To request disability accommodations, please contact MIT Conference Services at conferences-www@mit.edu.