Honor the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., at these free and cheap events to attend virtually or in person, including concerts, film screenings and special programs for kids.
Register Now for MLK Jr. Day of Service
Turn MLK Day into a day of service by volunteering.
The UJA has a page of possibilities in the Tri-State area, including packing and delivering meals to homebound seniors, including Holocaust survivors, or assemble care packages for deployed troops, even using the day to give blood. As you may have heard, blood supplies in NYC are in critically short supply and every drop - literally - is needed.
Here’s the link to the page of volunteer ideas.
Sunday - Queens College MLK Jr. Day Commemoration
This year’s annual Queens College Martin Luther King Jr. Day commemoration will take place virtually on Jan. 16 at 3 p.m.
The theme for this year’s event is We Are Not Satisfied: There Is a Long, Long Way To Go In the Footsteps of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. acknowledging his May 13, 1965, appearance as the inaugural speaker in the college’s John F. Kennedy Memorial Lecture Series. King emphasized the power of peaceful resistance in his address to students.
The ceremony includes performances by Trey McLaughlin and The Sounds of Zamar, a choir from Augusta, Georgia, which offers a short virtual performance of their adaptations of contemporary gospel, pop, and musical theatre hits.
In a video made for the occasion, five alumni who attended King’s speech—Noel Hankin ’68, Elliot Linzer ’80, then-Student Association President Ronald Pollack ’65, Wayne Price ’66, and Mike Wenger ’65—will share their memories of the event.
Annual Brooklyn Tribute to MLK
Once again this year, BAM hosts the largest MLK event in NYC, this year both live in person and via livestream, at 10:30am on Monday.
Musical performances by Nona Hendryx with Craig Harris & Tailgaters Tales and Sing Harlem, and a special dance video tribute by dancer Kyle Marshall. Plus there are testimonials by local and national civic leaders. The celebration is in the Howard Gilman Opera House, which is within the Peter Jay Sharp Building.
Tickets are FREE. Registration is required.
There’s also a virtual BAMkids workshop, “Heroes of Color HQ,” celebrating underrepresented historical figures, which is accessible throughout the day at www.BAM.org, also FREE.
At 1pm, there’s a screening of Stanley Nelson’s groundbreaking documentary Attica at BAM Rose Cinemas.
At 3pm, there’s a community performance of Reggie Wilson’s POWER at the Harvey Theater.
BAM’s celebration of Dr. King continues through Jan. 21 via a digital billboard-based group exhibition, “Salvation: A State of Being”, featuring work by seven Black visual artists.
Harlem Gospel Choir image © Simone Di Luca
Harlem Gospel Choir
The world-famous Harlem Gospel Choir is one of the most famous in the world. It was founded in 1986 by Allen Bailey, who got the idea for the Choir while attending a celebration in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at the Cotton Club in Harlem.
The Choir presents the finest singers and musicians from Harlem’s Black Churches and the New York/Tri-State area, sharing a message of love and inspiration with sounds that are unfettered, joyous, and inspirational.
This special MLK Day celebration is at Sony Hall in Midtown.
Tickets are $25 General Admission in advance, $30 at the door. VIP seating is $40.
Doors open 11am, show is at 12:30pm.
Link to TicketMaster here.
Uptown Hall at the Apollo - MLK, Activism and the Arts
For more than eight decades, the Apollo has served as a gathering place and convener for local community residents as well as people from across New York City. That tradition continues as the Apollo partners with WNYC in an annual celebration of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., in collaboration with the March on Washington Film Festival.
Hosted by various WNYC radio hosts, this commemorative and uplifting event brings together scholars, cultural and community leaders, and activists to engage in conversations and performance exploring Dr. King’s legacy and how his work is continued today.
This year’s thought-provoking discussion focuses on the long-standing connection between activism and artistry, and how the struggle for social justice affected such entertainers as Nina Simone and John Legend, and how they in turn affected the struggle for social justice.
- FREE at 11am and 7pm
- RSVP here for links to watch
What do you think about this? We welcome your comments.