Davenport University has several events planned to celebrate the life and legacy of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 

The community is invited to attend the 38th annual Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Commemoration at Fountain Street Church, 24 Fountain Street NE, Grand Rapids, on January 15 from 6-8 p.m. The event is free and open to the public. Attendees will hear from keynote speaker Melissa Harris-Perry, a professor at Wake Forest University and award-winning author. The event is co-sponsored by Davenport, Grand Rapids Community College and Grand Valley State University. For more information about this event, click here. 

On January 16, Davenport University will host a celebration and silent march on its W.A. Lettinga campus, 6191 Kraft Avenue SE, Grand Rapids. The celebration will be held in the auditorium, beginning at 2 p.m. Davenport President Richard J. Pappas will lead a Q&A style conversation with Harris-Perry, and the winners of the university’s annual MLK Day essay contest will be announced. The celebration will conclude with a silent march around campus. The event will be live-streamed for those unable to attend in person and those in the Lansing area are invited to a watch party at Davenport’s Lansing campus, room 305.

Davenport’s Center for Learning and Engagement is hosting a service opportunity on January 16 from 3-6 p.m. The group will be making fleece blankets that will be donated to a local nonprofit agency and making appreciation cards for teachers and healthcare workers. 

Pappas said it gives him hope that despite the societal struggles that can discourage us, we are able to come together as a community and commit publicly to be inclusive and embrace diversity. 

“We find strength in our joint mission to keep fighting injustice and magnifying what we know to be good and what we hear in Dr. King’s timeless message,” he said. 

For more information on these events, click here.