{"id":94852,"date":"2026-01-09T16:19:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T16:19:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/94852\/"},"modified":"2026-01-09T16:19:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T16:19:09","slug":"queens-college-to-host-annual-mlk-day-celebration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/94852\/","title":{"rendered":"Queens College to host annual MLK Day celebration"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t<img width=\"1080\" height=\"615\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Mlkday4.jpg\" class=\"crop-center wp-post-image\" alt=\"Mlkday4\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"  \/>\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>Last year\u2019s MLK Day event 2025. Photo credit: Dominick Totino Photography<\/p>\n<p>\t\t Search our comprehensive guide to <a href=\"https:\/\/events.qns.com\/?utm_source=qns&amp;utm_medium=oneliner&amp;utm_campaign=thingstodo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">things to do in Queens<\/a> for more local events \u2014 or <a href=\"https:\/\/events.qns.com\/add-your-event\/?utm_source=qns&amp;utm_medium=oneliner&amp;utm_campaign=thingstodo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">submit your own<\/a>!<\/p>\n<p>Queens College is hosting its annual celebration of the life and legacy of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., one of the most prominent MLK Day events in NYC.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/kupferbergcenter.org\/event\/tyreek-mcdole\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">event<\/a>, which is set to take place on Sunday, Jan. 18 at 3 p.m. at Goldstein Theatre, located on Queens College\u2019s campus at 65-30 Kissena Blvd. in <a href=\"https:\/\/qns.com\/?s=flushing\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Flushing,<\/a> is co-sponsored by Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, Jr. and will feature a keynote address, guest speakers, and a musical performance.<\/p>\n<p>This year\u2019s theme of the decade long annual event will be, \u201cWhere do we go from here?\u201d moderated by President Frank H. Wu including a speech by Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, Jr., and a keynote address from Carol Jenkins, a journalist, author, and civil rights advocate, who is the 2026 recipient of the Queens College Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Award.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-596207\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Mlkday.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"467\" height=\"700\"  \/>Queens College MLK Day will take place on Sunday, January 18. Photo courtesy of Queens College<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt Queens College, we try every day to live out the values for which Dr. King stood,\u201d said Wu. \u201d Whether it\u2019s through community projects, advocacy, or educational programs, we\u2019re always looking for ways to strengthen our connections and make a positive impact, both on campus and in our neighborhood.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Queens College Student Association President Shawn Rajkumar and Queens College Black Student Union President Janil Pandey will bring greetings, and the Tyreek McDole Quintet will perform at the event.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Queens College has hosted the celebration of Dr. King Jr.\u2019s connection to the school, where he delivered a speech in 1965 at Colden Auditorium.\u00a0<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-596210\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Mlkday5.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"700\" height=\"395\"  \/>Last year\u2019s event, where Arva Rice received a proclamation from the Office of Queens Borough President Donovan Richards Jr.Photo credit: Dominick Totino Photography\n<\/p>\n<p>In 1964, then Queens College student Andrew Goodman and fellow activists James Chaney and Michael Schwerner were murdered by the Ku Klux Klan as a result of their voter registration activism in Mississippi. Their deaths spurred public support in favor of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The following spring, Dr. King was the inaugural speaker of Queens College\u2019s John F. Kennedy Memorial Lecture Series, delivering a speech on the impact of peaceful resistance. In 2015, at its 91st commencement ceremony, the college awarded Goodman a posthumous honorary doctoral degree.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0\u201cWe\u2019re deeply proud of our historic connection to Dr. King,\u201d said Wu. \u201cWhen he visited this campus in May of 1965, he left us with insights that continue to resonate sixty years later. While our society has moved forward in many ways, we know there is still important work ahead. This is both a moment to honor what\u2019s been accomplished and a reminder to stay committed to creating a fairer, more equitable future.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The recognition ceremony and keynote address by event honoree Carol Jenkins will take place at 3:00 p.m., followed by the Tyreek McDole Quintet performance at 4:00 p.m. Tickets are available from the college\u2019s Kupferberg Center for the Arts <a href=\"https:\/\/kupferbergcenter.org\/event\/tyreek-mcdole\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">website.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Last year\u2019s MLK Day event 2025. Photo credit: Dominick Totino Photography Search our comprehensive guide to things to&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":94853,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[44382,44383,44384,44385,44386,44387,44388,44389,44390,44391,35413,44392,44393,44394,9,24,63,122,19471,44395,44396,44397,124,123,44398,44399,44400],"class_list":["post-94852","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-65-30-kissena-blvd","tag-andrew-goodman-civil-rights","tag-carol-jenkins-journalist","tag-civil-rights-advocacy-nyc","tag-community-advocacy-queens","tag-cuny-mlk-celebration","tag-dr-martin-luther-king-jr-legacy","tag-flushing-ny-events","tag-frank-h-wu","tag-goldstein-theatre-queens-college","tag-kupferberg-center-for-the-arts","tag-mlk-1965-queens-college-speech","tag-mlk-day-2026-nyc","tag-mlk-day-celebration-nyc","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-borough-president-donovan-richards-jr","tag-queens-college-black-student-union","tag-queens-college-mlk-award","tag-queens-college-mlk-day-2026","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news","tag-social-justice-events-nyc","tag-tyreek-mcdole-quintet","tag-where-do-we-go-from-here-theme"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94852","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94852"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94852\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/94853"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}