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Martin Luther King Convocation

 

The annual Martin Luther King convocation celebrates the life and dream of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. by presenting speakers who discuss the civil rights issues of equality, freedom, justice, and opportunity. The convocation also seeks to build partnerships and develop dialogue within the campus community and with the local communities served by the university.

 

Past speakers include:

2020: Charlene Carruthers, author, founder of BYP100 (Black Youth Project 100)

2019: Melissa Harris-Perry, professor, broadcast journalist

2018: Kimberlé Crenshaw, professor of law at UCLA and Columbia Law School

2017: Benjamin Jealous, former president and CEO of the NAACP
2016: Alicia Garza, civil rights activist, co-founder of #BlackLivesMatter

2015: Angela Davis, UCSC distinguished professor emerita of History of Consciousness and Feminist Studies

2014: Freeman A. Hrabowski, civil rights activist, researcher, educator

2013: Robert P. Moses, educator, civil rights activist, founde of the Algebra Project

2012: Nikki Giovanni, writer, commentator, activist, educator

2011: Terrence Roberts, civil rights activist, member of the "Little Rock Nine"

2010: Anna Deavere Smith, actress, playwright, professor

2009: Van Jones, founder, Green for All

2008: Julian Bond, chair, NAACP

2007: Maxine Waters, congressional representative

2006: Keith Beauchamp, filmaker; and Angela Glover Blackwell, founder/ CEO, PolicyLink

2005: Joseph E. Lowery, cofounder, Southern Christian Leadership Conference

2004: Yolanda King, activist, actress, daughter of MLK Jr.

2003: Rev. James Lawson, cofounder, Southern Christian Leadership Conference

2002: Alice Walker, author

2001: Kweisi Mfume, former congressperson, former chair of the NAACP

2000: Susan L. Taylor, editor-in-chief, Essence magazine

1999: Michael Eric Dyson, author, commentator, professor, Baptist minister

1998: Myrlie Evers-Williams, activist, former chair of the NAACP

1997: Cornel West, professor of African American studies and divinity, Harvard University

1996: Franklin A. Sonn, former South African ambassador to the United States

1995: bell hooks, UCSC alumna, author and activist

1994: Shirley Chisholm, first Black woman elected to Congress

1993: Tony Brown, journalist, author, PBS commentator

1992: Joe Hicks, former executive director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference

1991: Juan Williams, author, NPR correspondent

1990: Cicely Tyson, actress, activist

1989: Martin Luther King III, son of MLK Jr.

1988: Yolanda King, activist, actress, daughter of MLK Jr.

1987: Shirley Chisholm, first Black woman elected to Congress

1986: Tony Brown, journalist, author, PBS commentator

1985: Vincent Harding, Southern Freedom Movement, director of the MLK Memorial Center

 

MLK convocation 2019 photo