Library MLK Committee presents: Steve Pemberton

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is not just an annual recognition of the life and legacy of a civil rights leader. It is an opportunity to look inward and ask ourselves what we can do to bring about a more equal world and what tangible actions we can take to ensure that all voices are heard— and valued—says bestselling author and business leader Steve Pemberton. It’s what Dr. King dreamed of and what Pemberton tries to achieve every day. In this inspirational presentation, informed by Pemberton’s turbulent journey of growing up in the foster care system, Pemberton will ask us to reconsider King’s legacy in the context of the enduring structure of the lighthouse and how each day offers us an opportunity to find a lighthouse for ourselves and to become one for another. At a time when the very notion of diversity needs to be re-defended and re-defined, you’ll be renewed and inspired to make your own contributions to helping us find our collective humanity.

Is RSVP required? No

Link to Remote Event: https://umich.zoom.us/j/94243015643

Event Contact Info

• Jamaine Wourman
• 7343557236
• jwourman@umich.edu
• https://www.lib.umich.edu/visit-and-study/events-and-exhibits/today-and-upcoming/honoring-legacy-martin-luther-king-jr-mlk

• Hussey Rm Michigan League
• 911 N. University Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109

Veterans For Peace/ UM Veterans and Military Service Office presents: Bill Shea

Members of Veterans For Peace-93, in association with the UM Office of Veterans and Military Services, examine MLK’s concepts and interrelatedness of Militarism, Racism, and Excessive Materialism. We will offer some thoughts on how MLK might address the interconnectedness of these concepts today as applied to the end of the Afghanistan war.

Is RSVP required? No

Link to Remote Event: http://VFP93.org

Event Contact Info

• Bill Shea
• 7346620818
• billshea@umich.edu
• http://VFP93.org

• The Diag

Michigan Community Scholars Program presents: Various

This public event brings together students, faculty, staff and community members to celebrate the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. through song, dance, and spoken word.

Is RSVP required? No

Event Contact Info

• Christine Modey
• 7342234121
• cmodey@umich.edu
• http://lsa.umich.edu/mcsp

• Virtual

MESA presents: Amina Troupe

This teach-in/workshop will engage analytical frameworks for examining systemic cultural, social, economic, and political forces in the community along with individual reflection. Our hope is to raise critical consciousness and understand the opportunity for actions.

Is RSVP required? Yes

RSVP form: https://sessions.studentlife.umich.edu/track/event/session/51488

Link to Remote Event: https://sessions.studentlife.umich.edu/track/event/session/51488

Event Contact Info

• Dillon Cathro
• 4029830881
• acathro@umich.edu
• http://mesa.umich.edu

• Chesebrough Auditorium, Chrysler Center
• 2121 Bonisteel Blvd, Ann Arbor, MI 48109

Center for Engineering Diversity & Outreach presents:

The North Campus Deans’ MLK Spirit Awards are given to students, student organizations, staff, and faculty in North Campus schools and colleges at the University of Michigan who exemplify the leadership and vision of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. through their commitment to social justice, diversity, equity, and inclusion, including within the context of the pandemic and our reignited sense of urgency to address root causes of social injustice.

The annual awards are hosted by the A. Alfred Taubman College of Architecture + Urban Planning; College of Engineering; Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design; and School of Music, Theatre & Dance, in collaboration with ArtsEngine and the Duderstadt Center as part of U-M’s MLK Symposium to honor and commemorate the life and legacy of Dr. King. We are pleased to return to an in-person award ceremony this year which will also be livestreamed for those unable or uncomfortable attending in person.

Is RSVP required? No

Link to Remote Event: Will be provided soon

Event Contact Info

• Purabi Devi
• 3138981714
• pdevi@umich.edu
• https://artsengine.engin.umich.edu/nc-deans-mlk-spirit-awards/

• Historic Theater The Michigan Theater
• 603 E Liberty St Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104

University of Michigan Museum of Art presents: Titus Kaphar

Titus Kaphar is an artist whose paintings, sculptures, and installations examine the history of representation by transforming its styles and mediums with formal innovations to emphasize the physicality and dimensionality of the canvas and materials themselves. His work, Flay (James Madison), is the centerpiece of Unsettling Histories: Legacies of Slavery and Colonalism, UMMA’s reinstallation of our gallery of eighteenth century European and American art. Through the acts of shredding, cutting, shrouding, tarring, erasing, breaking and nailing, Kaphar’s portrait of James Madison sheds light on unspoken truths in our country’s history, examining how histories have been rewritten, distorted, reimagined, and understood.

Kaphar’s commitment to social engagement has led him to move beyond traditional modes of artistic expression to establish NXTHVN. NXTHVN is a new national arts model that empowers emerging artists and curators of color through education and access. Through intergenerational mentorship, professional development and cross-sector collaboration, NXTHVN accelerates professional careers in the arts. Now in its second year of operation, NXTHVN encourages artists, art professionals, and local entrepreneurs to expand New Haven’s growing creative community.

Kaphar received an MFA from the Yale School of Art and is a distinguished recipient of numerous prizes and awards including a 2018 MacArthur Fellowship, a 2018 Art for Justice Fund grant, a 2016 Robert R. Rauschenberg Artist as Activist grant, and a 2015 Creative Capital grant. His work is included in the collections of Crystal Bridges Museum, Bentonville, AK; the Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM), Miami, FL; The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York, NY; the Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY; the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY and The Metropolitan Museum of Art (the MET), New York, NY, amongst others.

Presented by the Penny Stamps Distinguished Speaker Series and UMMA in partnership with the University of Michigan 2022 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Symposium.

Lead support for Unsettling Histories is provided by the University of Michigan Office of the Provost and Arts Initiative and the Susan and Richard Gutow Endowed Fund.

Is RSVP required? No

Link to Remote Event: https://michtheater.org/

Event Contact Info

• Lisa Borgsdorf
• 734-615-9815
• lherbert@umich.edu
• http://umma.umich.edu

• Virtual

Rackham Graduate School presents: Six incredible Rackham Graduate Students

Rackham’s annual King Talks are TED-style talks echoing the theme of U-M’s MLK Symposium. Through this program, Rackham students publicly communicate the relevance of their research adn experience to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy.

At the moment King Talks will be streamed LIVE in the Rackham auditorium.

Is RSVP required? Yes

RSVP form: https://rackham.umich.edu/rackham-life/diversity-equity-and-inclusion/king-talks/

Link to Remote Event: https://rackham.umich.edu/rackham-life/diversity-equity-and-inclusion/king-talks/

Event Contact Info

• Paul Artale
• 7346474566
• artale@umich.edu
• https://rackham.umich.edu/rackham-life/diversity-equity-and-inclusion/king-talks/

An ICAMus-The International Center for American Music event, sponsored by MCECS-Michigan Center for Early Christian Studies, in collaboration with the Frankel Center for Judaic Studies and MES-Dept. of Middle East Studies, University of Michigan presents: Luca Bragalini

Jazz composer, pianist, jazz orchestra leader, and symphonic orchestra conductor, Duke Ellington also composed some symphonic works of great complexity. Three Black Kings, a score for ballet, was his last major work. The first movement represents Balthazar, the Black king of the Nativity; the second portrays Solomon, King of Israel; and the third celebrates Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Ellington’s personal friend. Luca Bragalini will discuss Martin Luther King’s musical depiction in Three Black Kings, with an analysis of the implications of the Black King’s imagery in art history, political thought, and the importance that religion has had for the African American community.

Is RSVP required? Yes

RSVP form: https://tinyurl.com/2zvsappv

Link to Remote Event: https://tinyurl.com/2zvsappv

Event Contact Info

• Jillian Luciow
• 734-615-8503
• js-event-coord@umich.edu
• https://lsa.umich.edu/judaic/news-events.html

• 1010 Weiser Hall
• 500 Church St. Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1042

Donia Human Rights Center presents: Makua Mutua, SUNY Distinguished Professor and Margaret W. Wong Professor, University at Buffalo Law School

Makua Mutua, SUNY Distinguished Professor and Margaret W. Wong Professor, University at Buffalo Law School, The State University at New York

The heyday of the human rights movement — the 1990s — is well behind us. At its peak, the human rights movement was the most captivating ideology of its time. It punctuated public discourse with a rhetorical command rarely seen, even in the more repressive states. But the power of the movement today is a but a pale shadow of itself. Some argue that the age of human rights is over. Yet that is hyperbole. It is clear, however, that for its many successes, the human rights corpus has met with many failures. It began as part of the colonial project of Empire, wittingly and unwittingly. Its deficits include its cultural illegitimacy in many places around the world, including the West; its inability to address economic privation; the movement’s impotence as material for liberating the globe of racism and related inequities, especially for peoples of Black African descent; and its glaring normative incompleteness. Are these problems fatal to the future of human rights movement? Is it doomed to go the way of previous dominant ideologies? Where can it go from here to achieve its fundamental and still critical purposes?

Is RSVP required? No

Link to Remote Event:

https://ii.umich.edu/humanrights/news-events/all-events.detail.html/88958-21659308.html

Event Contact Info

• Natasa Gruden-Alajbegovic
• 734-615-8482
• umichhumanrights@umich.edu
• https://ii.umich.edu/humanrights