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Martin Luther King Jr. Legacy Day
The Babson community remembers, reflects upon, and celebrates the legacy of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
This annual event initiates and continues conversations about the realization of King’s vision of justice, equality, and peace in our own community and in the world at large.
2023 Martin Luther King Jr. Legacy Day Event
Wednesday, February 1, 2023 – 5–7 p.m. ET
In-person at the Sorenson Center for the Arts

The Martin Luther King Legacy Day Committee is thrilled to announce that our keynote speaker will be voting rights activist, advocate, and visionary leader LaTosha Brown.
LaTosha is a contributor to The New York Times op-ed page and a Senior Practice Fellow at the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. As co-founder of the Black Voters Matter Fund organization, LaTosha is dedicated to increasing the political power of Black people.
The Black Voters Matter Fund was credited with energizing and turning out voters in Alabama’s Black Belt and playing a decisive role in Doug Jones’ election to the U.S. Senate.
LaTosha and her Black Voters Matter Fund partners often travel through the South and key swing states on what they call “The Blackest Bus in America” to galvanize voters and put a stop to voter suppression. She is also the co-founder of Black Voters Matter Capacity Building Institute an organization that provides training and support to community-based organizations.
An in-demand public speaker, LaTosha has distinguished herself as a trusted expert on political strategy, organizing, civil rights, economic development, wealth creation, and rural issues over a 20 year career. She is the founding project director of Grantmakers for Southern Progress and a founding member of the Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors’ Gulf Coast Fund for Community Renewal and Ecological Health. She has advised many national and regional foundations, including the Ford Foundation, Open Society Institute, and the Clinton Global Initiative.
LaTosha is noted to be a visionary who is leading the charge for a new, inclusive America.
2022
Speaker: James Blake
2021
Theme: Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community?
Speaker: Farah Bernier MBA’08
2020
Theme: A Chance In the World for All
Speaker: Steve Pemberton
2019
Theme: The Winding Road Toward Justice and Equality
Speaker: Mónica Ramírez
2018
Theme: Tearing Hatred from the Sky
Speaker: Bree Newsome
2017
Theme: History Under Assault
Speaker: Thomas Chatterton Williams
2016
Theme: Eavesdropping on America’s Conversation on Race
Speaker: Michele Norris
2015
Theme: Resegregation in Post–Civil Rights America
Speaker: Dr. Khalil Gibran Muhammad
2014
Theme: Globalization in the Prison Industrial Complex
Speaker: Angela Davis
2013
Theme: Race and the Persistence of Social Inequality in Contemporary America
Speaker: Ta-Nehisi Coates
2012
Theme: The Quest for Equality: Empathy and Global Justice in a Divided World
Speaker: Rinku Sen
2011
Theme: Sustaining King’s Legacy: Social Justice through a Green Economy
Speaker: Van Jones
2010
Theme: American Culture and the Pursuit of Justice in a Global Society
Speaker: Patricia Williams
2009
Theme: The New Activism: Power, Global Citizenship, and the Path to Equality
Speaker: Kevin Powell
2008
Theme: Freedom and Self-Determination in the Global Era
Speaker: John Edgar Wideman
2007
Theme: Economic Disparity and Race: A Necessary Redress
Speaker: Naomi Tutu
2006
Theme: 50 Years After Montgomery: Is the Dream Deferred, Diluted, or Fulfilled?
Speaker: Juan Williams
2005
Theme: Micro-lending: Banker to the Poor
Speaker: Muhammad Yunus
2004
First Annual MLK Legacy Day
Speaker: Julianne Malveaux