Martin Luther King Jr. Week
An annual campus community gathering to honor the life and legacy of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. through questioning, learning, discussion, community engagement and art.
Bucknell's Martin Luther King Jr. Week brings various artists, activists, community partners, and scholars to campus to engage our community in a conversation about Dr. King's vision, legacy and philosophies with regard to current struggles.
Events during this week include several performances, lectures, workshops, and discussions designed to raise awareness, encourage conversations and empower participants to enact individual and collective change.
MLK Week 2026
The Time Is Always Right to Do Right
Bucknell University's 2026 MLK Week theme, The Time Is Always Right to Do Right, underscores the enduring urgency of Dr. King's call to ethical action. This phrase was used in his Commencement Address at Oberlin College on June 14, 1965, titled Remaining Awake Through a Great Revolution, in which he argued against passively waiting for justice and emphasized the immediate imperative to stand for what is right. The 2026 theme aims to challenge our community to attend to King's calls to reflect on and actively work toward a more just and equitable world at this moment in time, recognizing that inaction is never a neutral stance.
*Variations of these words appear in many of Dr. King's other speeches and writings.
- The time is always ripe to do right. (Letter from a Birmingham Jail, 1963)
- The time is always right to do right. (The Other America, Stanford, 1967)
Previous MLK Week Themes
To access an MLK Week video or audio recording you will be asked to log in with your Bucknell credentials. If you are interested in seeing a video, but do not have Bucknell credentials, please email griot@bucknell.edu with your request.
Dr. King consistently referred to the three interconnected evils of the world: racism, poverty and militarism. The 2025 MLK theme, Learning to Action: Movement Toward Just Communities, was a call to the community to actively engage in listening, (self) reflection, learning and action toward social justice. In a time of unrest and conflict, how can our local community of Bucknellians and our neighbors take up King's call to better understand our words and practices as the work of transformation toward beloved community and justice? In an effort to learn how to take action that brings greater social justice, our keynote speaker was Judy Richardson, formerly a student leader at Swarthmore who was an original participant in Freedom Summer (1963) and a member of SNCC, and currently a filmmaker and social justice educator/activist.
Guests/Events for 2025 included:
- In His Own Words: Noted Speeches by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., sponsored by the MLK Week Committee
- Artists' Books for Equity: Artists and authors advocating for just communities, sponsored by Special Collections/University Archives and Library and Information Techonology
- MLK Week MakerSpace Activity, sponsored by BSG
- James Baldwin Readout, sponsored by the Literary Studies Program
- In His Own Words: MLK and Student Voices, sponsored by BSG's MLK and Diversity Committees
- Singing and Social Justice: A Community Sing with Rev. Angela Jones and Dr. Alisha Lola Jones, sponsored by Religious & Spiritual Life, the Rooke Chapel Congregation, The University Choir, Bucknell Voice Lab, Two Past Midnight and Beyond Unison
- Multifaith Commemoration of the Life and Legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., sponsored by Religious & Spiritual Life, the Rooke Chapel Congregation, The University Choir, Bucknell Voice Lab, Two Past Midnight and Beyond Unison
- Keynote Speaker Judy Richardson, We Who Believe in Freedom Cannot Rest
- Guest Speaker: George Takei, sponsored by the Bucknell University Forum
- Guest Speaker: Dr. Jen Fry, Exploring the Intersection of Conflict and Culture, sponsored by Bucknell Athletics and the Center for Community Engaged Leadership, Learning and Research
- Learning to Action Community Lunch: Through King's Words in Classroom Spaces and Beyond, sponsored by the Teaching and Learning Center, the Provost's Office, the Division of Equity and Inclusive Excellence, the College of Arts & Sciences, the College of Engineering, and the Freeman College of Management
In January 2024, the MLK Week Committee invited the Bucknell community to gather to ponder not only the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., but also those around him who collectively made a sustained movement possible. Drawing connections between King's movement and various social movements of his era, as well as those that followed, the MLK Week Committee at Bucknell created several forums for the community to discuss the commitment necessary for individuals and societies to aspire to social justice in the context of pervasive injustice.
Guests/Events for 2024 included:
- Film Screening of Bushman at the Campus Theatre, sponsored by Film/Media Studies and Tuesday Film Series
- Fireside Chat with Frank Wood '62, sponsored by the Center for Alumni and Family Engagement
- MLK Week MakerSpace Activity, sponsored by BSG
- Guest Speaker, Dr. Walter Kimbrough, It’s Complicated: The Rhetoric and Reality of Greek Life, sponsored by Fraternity and Sorority Affairs
- Student Panel: Unlearning Racism at a Predominantly White Institution
- Singing and Social Justice: A Community Sing with Rev. Angela Jones and Dr. Alisha Lola Jones, sponsored by Religious & Spiritual Life, The University Choir, Bucknell Voice Lab, Two Past Midnight and Beyond Unison
- Multifaith Commemoration of the Life and Legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., sponsored by Religious and Spiritual Life.
- Keynote Speaker Gbenga Akinnagbe '00, (Un)liberated People: Sustaining Social Movements/Struggles for Freedom
- Guest Speaker, Jennifer Black, Beneath the Mountain: The Fight to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal and Build an Anti-Prison Movement, sponsored by the Women’s Resource Center and the Lewisburg Prison Project
- MLK Day of Bison Community Engagement, sponsored by Bucknell Athletics
- Student Lunch with Dr. Jared Ball, sponsored by Multicultural Student Services
- King and the Terror of Revolution Reception, sponsored by the Freeman College of Management DEI Alliance and Multicultural Student Services
- Guest Speaker, Dr. Jared Ball, Dr. King and the Terror of Revolution, sponsored by Multicultural Student Services
- Community Lunch: Where Do We Go From Here?, in partnership with the the Teaching and Learning Center Friday Learning Series
- Why Is the Conversation So Hard? Islamophobia, Antisemitism and Israel-Palestine Dialogue, sponsored by the MLK Week Committee and Religious and Spiritual Life
We invited the Bucknell community to gather Jan. 16–27, 2023 for our annual MLK commemoration under the theme of Legacies: Leaving a Path to Follow. We gathered to honor Dr. King — not simply as a dreamer — but as an organizer, a prophet and a leader within a vast movement that stood against racism, militarism and poverty and built toward justice, freedom and the beloved community. We gathered to wonder how each one of us will further that work and forge a path for others to follow.
Guests/events for 2023 included:
- MLK Day student "snaptalks", sponsored by the Bucknell Student Government MLK Committee
- Legacies: Amiri Baraka, sponsored by the Humanities Center and the Stadler Center
- Film screening: Black Is ... Black Ain't, sponsored by the Tuesday Film Series
- The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King's "Three Dimensions of a Complete Life" text study, sponsored by the MLK committee, Religious & Spiritual Life, Catholic Campus Ministry, Rooke Chapel Congregation, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Bison 4 Christ and Orthodox Christian Fellowship
- Still Yearning for Freedom: From Civil Rights to Abolition (book-group discussion), sponsored by the Women’s Resource Center
- Dr. Karen Saxe: "Math & Redistricting — How? Why? What’s New?", sponsored by the Department of Mathematics and the Bucknell Institute for Public Policy
- MLK Week makerspace activity, sponsored by the CAP Center and the BSG MLK Committee
- Film screening and discussion: Reflections Unheard: Black Women in Civil Rights, sponsored by the Women’s Resource Center
- Singing and social justice: a community sing with Rev. Karlos Nichols, sponsored by the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life, University Choir, Beyond Unison and Two Past Midnight
- Multifaith commemoration of the life and legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., sponsored by the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life
- Student lunch with Mayor Ras Baraka, sponsored by the Freeman COM DEI Alliance
- Keynote speaker Mayor Ras Baraka: "Legacies: Leaving a Path to Follow," sponsored by the MLK Week Committee
- BPIP internship fund student panel, sponsored by the Center for Career Advancement
- Community dinner: "What Do You Want Your Legacy to Be?", sponsored by the BSG MLK Committee
- Alumni panel: Dr. King’s 1958 visit to Bucknell, sponsored by the Center for Alumni and Family Engagement
- MLK Day of Bison Service with Bucknell Athletics, sponsored by Bucknell Athletics and the Office of Civic Engagement
- "Your Student Leadership Legacy: Belonging @Bucknell," sponsored by the Teaching and Learning Center and Diversity & Inclusion
- Presentation for faculty on “Belonging in College,” sponsored by the Teaching and Learning Center
- Film screening: Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, sponsored by the Campus Theatre and MLK Week Committee
Monday, Jan. 17, 2022, was Martin Luther King Jr. Day. An official University holiday, it marked the beginning of Bucknell’s annual Martin Luther King Jr. Week — a time for all of us to reflect on Dr. King’s legacy and philosophies and consider them within the context of the struggles of today. The Bucknell community was invited to explore the theme, Mighty Causes Calling: Community, Coalition & Radical Revolution, through an array of events that began on January 17.
Guests/Events for 2022 included:
- MLK Day Student Snaptalks — Sponsored by the MLK Week Committee and Bucknell Student Government.
- Transforming Communities Anti-Racist Pedagogy Workshop — Sponsored by the Office of Equity and Inclusive Excellence.
- Jamila Michener: Confronting Racism, Strengthening Community, Sustaining Democracy — Sponsored by the MLK Week Committee and the Department of Political Science.
- Transforming Communities Ableism and Accommodation Workshop — Sponsored by the Office of Equity and Inclusive Excellence.
- MLK Week MakerSpace Activity — Sponsored by the 7th Street Studio and Maker Space.
- Community, Coalition & Radical Revolution Alumni Panel — Sponsored by the Freeman College of Management.
- David Hunter: When the Supreme Court declares your Homework Unconstitutional: Reflections on Data Science and Society — Sponsored by the Department of Mathematics.
- My Ancestor’s Wildest Dreams: An Evening with Lewisburg Mayor Kendy Alvarez ‘06 — Sponsored by the Office of Civic Engagement.
- Gospel Sing with Reverend Karlos Nichols — Sponsored by the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life.
- Multifaith Celebration of the Life and Legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr — Sponsored by the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life.
- American Patchwork Quartet — Sponsored by the Weis Center for the Performing Arts
- Reading Group - See No Stranger: A Memoir and Manifesto of Revolutionary Love by Valarie Kaur — Sponsored by the Griot Institute and the MLK Week Committee
- Keynote Speaker Valarie Kaur: See No Stranger: Revolutionary Love as the Call of our Times — Sponsored by the MLK Week Committee and the Weis Center for the Performing Arts
- Transforming Communities Dialogue with Valarie Kaur — Sponsored by the Office of Equity and Inclusive Excellence.
- MLK Day of Bison Service — Sponsored by the Department of Athletics
- Tuesday Film Series Screening: Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song — Sponsored by the Tuesday Film Series
- The Power of Storytelling in Environmental Justice Community Dinner — Sponsored by the Bucknell Center for Sustainability and the Environment
- Student Roundtable: “Second Generation Immigrants in Italy, France and Germany” — Sponsored by the Department of Language, Cultures & Linguistics
- Warrior Women Documentary Screening — Sponsored by the MLK Week Committee
- Indigenous Artist Talk and Display by Sierra Pete, Bucknell Masters Biology Student
MLK Week at Bucknell University is designed to support the institutional mission and uphold Dr. King's mission to foster critical thinking, educate toward ethical leadership and enact social justice. Following a year of mass organizing, community building and heightened awareness of the injustices people of color face in the United States, the MLK Week Committee thought it was important to take time to reflect on lessons we can gain from resistance movements. There is a great deal we must be attentive to as we work to undo racist systems and create more just communities.
Due to the pandemic, MLK Week 2021 events were virtual and took place throughout the spring 2021 semester. An array of events were designed to raise awareness and empower participants to enact individual and community change.
Guests/Events for 2021 included:
- MLK Day Student Snaptalks
- Nationtime (William Greaves, 1972) Film at the Campus Theatre
Sponsored by the Bucknell Film Series - Judy Richardson, Civil Rights Activist - Webinar
- MLK Multifaith Celebration
Sponsored by the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life - Rudolph Ware — Talisman Textualities: Afro-Islamic Epistemology in Medieval West Africa
Sponsored by the Griot Institute for the Study of Black Lives and Cultures - Stono/Step Afrika Virtual Performance
Sponsored by the Weis Center for the Performing Arts - Amira Rose Davis - Race, Sports, and Protest
Sponsored by Women's and Gender Studies and CSREG - Soul Fire Farm - Uprooting Racism; Seeding Sovereignty
Co-sponsored by the Bucknell Farm, Lewisburg Community Garden, BCSE, the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life, MSS, Bucknell Environmental Club - Intergenerational Panel — Vaccine Availability and Increase in Violence Against Asian Americans
- Spring Is Here: A Concert Series Celebrating Sonic Stories of Black Composers and Others
Sponsored by the Music Department
MLK Week 2020, "Time to Break the Silence," took place from Jan. 20 - 26 and included a community service fair and an array of events designed to raise awareness and empower participants to enact individual and community change. Guests for the week included:
- Julian Agyeman — The legacy of MLK: Just Sustainabilities in Policy, Planning and Practice
- Opal Tometi, co-founder of Black Lives Matters — Moderated Q & A
- Toshi Reagon — Performance of Rock/Blues/Folk/Spirituals
- Amanda Gorman — Poetry, Power, and Protest: Using Language to Live by MLK’s Values
- Lois Moses and Company — Say That He Had More Than a Dream (Play)
- Allison Miller, Boom Tic Boom — Performance of Contemporary Jazz
MLK Week 2020 was generously supported by the President's Office, the Provost's Office, the Freeman College of Management, the College of Engineering, the College of Arts & Sciences, the University Lectureship Committee, the Public Policy Endowment, the Africana Studies Program, the Center for the Study of Race, Ethnicity & Gender, and the Departments of Geography, Mechanical Engineering, Sociology & Anthropology, Women's & Gender Studies, Art & Art History and Religious Studies.
Bucknell’s 2019 Martin Luther King Jr Week brought scholars and activists to campus to engage the community in a conversation that reflects on Dr. King’s legacy and philosophies and considers them in the context of contemporary struggles.
The theme for this week was based on a quote by James Baldwin: “Not everything that is faced can be changed. But nothing can be changed until it is faced.” Guests for the week included:
- Richard Boodie — The 1958 Visit of Martin Luther King Jr. to Bucknell: Impressions and Influences
- Jason Sokol — The Heavens Might Crack: The Death and Legacy of Martin Luther King Jr.
- Patrisia Macias-Rojas — From Deportation to Prison: The Politics of Immigration Enforcement in Post Civil Rights America
- Nicholas Villanueva — Lynching of Mexicans in the Texas Borderlands
- Ibram Kendi — Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America
Bucknell’s Martin Luther King Jr. Week 2018 brought various scholars to campus to engage our community in a conversation about Dr. King’s legacy and philosophies with regard to current struggle.
The week involved the charitable gift drive, the Beloved Community Dinner, an interfaith worship service and the lectures from the following guests:
- Eddie S. Glaude — How Race Still Enslaves the American Soul
- Khalid Latif — Rise Above Hate/I Am Not What Is Broken
- Raffi Freedman-Gurspan — The Quest for Transgender Equality
- Cornel West and Robert George — What is the Point of a Liberal Arts Education?
The 2017 Martin Luther King Jr. Week brought to campus social justice leaders to discuss King’s legacy of peace and nonviolence. Including a charitable gift drive, a community dinner, and interfaith service and an array of events designed to bring awareness and empower participants to enact individual and community change, the guest speakers were:
- Sharon Washington Risher — We Are Charleston: Triumph and Tragedy at Mother Emmanuel
- Joseph Sebarenzi — God Sleeps in Rwanda
- Arun Gandhi — Legacy of Love: My Education in the Path of Non-Violence
In 2016 the President’s Diversity Council presented a mini-series for MLK Week intended to engage our community in a conversation about Dr. King’ legacy and philosophies and the intractable and interrelated problems of violence, racism, and hatred.
The Violence of Hate theme was chosen in response to the growing frequency of violent events in our country. The week included a screening of A Force More Powerful: Nashville, We Were Warriors, the annual Beloved Community Dinner, “a Service for Peace and Justice” at Rooke Chapel and lectures and discussions from the following guests:
- Haider Hamza — The Violence of War and Dr. King’s Philosophy
- Mark Barden, Ian Hockley, Jeremy Richman, David Wheeler — Four Fathers, Four Journeys: Sandy Hook
- Jack Levin — The Violence of Hate
- Nyle Fort — Ferguson, Racism, Violence and the Necessity of Non-Violence
- Rev. Jim Lawson — An Evening with Jim Lawson, the “Architect of Non-Violence In America”
- Jennifer L. Pozner — How Media Instigate Gun Violence and Rape Culture