40th Annual
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Memorial celebration
Sunday, January 19, 2025

Theme: "We Still Dream"




our community commitment

Since 1993, we have awarded more than 320+ scholarships to Chapel Hill and Orange County high school and college students who have demonstrated a commitment to community involvement and improvement through their civic, educational and religious activities.

The scholarships are awarded without regard to race, religion or creed and place special emphasis on financial need. 

We hope you will join with us and support our funding efforts to help build a greater sense of community while helping deserving young people embrace the opportunity of getting a college education.

MLK Jr. Memorial Celebration

This year’s event will feature a keynote speech from Dr. Donovan Livingston. Dr. Livingston is an award-winning educator, spoken word poet, and public speaker. In 2016, his Harvard Graduate School of Education convocation address “Lift Off” went viral, reaching over thirteen million views and prompting Hillary Clinton to praise, “It’s young graduates like [Livingston] who make it clear that America’s best days are still ahead.” Since his pivotal speech, Livingston has been featured on CNN, NPR, BBC, Good Morning America, and in news outlets across Europe, Australia, India, and South Africa. His convocation address was published as a book by Spiegel & Grau in 2017.

A believer in the enormous opportunities that education provides, Dr. Livingston inspires students, educators, and communities with his conviction that every child has the right to “lift off” and achieve their dreams. Drawing on personal experiences as well as scholarship, Livingston examines the role of culture, hip-hop and spoken word poetry in student experiences in higher and postsecondary education. More specifically, Dr. Livingston is interested in understanding how poetics – rooted in Black lyrical and oral traditions – serve as a catalyst for student success and systemic change in colleges and universities. In addition, Livingston’s areas of expertise include educational leadership, critical hip-hop pedagogy, and hip-hop-based qualitative research methodologies.

Dr. Livingston has earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in History from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, master’s degrees from Columbia University and Harvard University, and a Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in Educational Leadership & Cultural Foundations. 

Throughout our virtual program, you will hear musical selections from local musicians from the Triangle region.

View the presentation of this year’s Bridge Builder Award, MLK Jr. Citizenship Award, and the presentation of the MLK Jr./ Edith Wiggins Scholarships.

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Who IS Speaking?

Bishop L. Gene Hatley

Master of Ceremonies

Dr. Donovan Livingston

Keynote Speaker

2023 Sponsor Spotlight

We are grateful to all of the organizations that have sponsored this event over the years. The generous donations from our sponsors make this event occur successfully and allow us to offer scholarships to deserving youth.  Special thanks to last year’s Justice sponsor, Carol Woods, for their continued support of the MLK Jr. Memorial Celebration.