The Boston University community is commemorating the legacy of civil rights activist and alum Martin Luther King Jr. this week, a celebration eclipsed by President Donald Trump’s inauguration.
King graduated from the School of Theology in 1955 after completing his doctorate in systematic theology.
The University suspended classes on Monday for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and the Howard Thurman Center for Common Ground plans to host a celebration on Saturday in partnership with the City of Boston.
Additionally, letters and other pieces of King’s writings, stretching from his academic work at BU to his civil rights work, will be showcased at the Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center this weekend.
BU has collaborated with the City to celebrate MLK Day for years. Ford Curran, outreach archivist for the Gotlieb Center, said previous MLK Day events were held before students arrived on campus for the spring semester, so most attendees were not students.
“This is the first year that we’ve moved it to the weekend, … so we’re anticipating a lot of student involvement,” Curran said.
Sophomore Jeffery Odiase said it is imperative students recognize MLK Day given King’s role in the civil rights movement.
“It’s a very foundational day that helps us remember a man who did so much for our community,” Odiase said. “He played a pivotal role in every way, shape or form for Black people to move forward during the civil rights movement.”
Odiase said he thinks MLK Day celebrations need to be “more populated,” and students should be more informed about King’s work and his connection to the University. He noted the “Free at Last” sculpture in Marsh Chapel, which took inspiration from King’s “I Have a Dream” speech.
“Even with the statue at Marsh Chapel, it’s there, but people won’t even recognize that that’s about him,” Odiase said. “There should be more active appreciation for what he did, and that could easily start with all the words that are already centered around him in BU as a whole.”
This year, MLK Day fell on the same day as Inauguration Day, when Trump was sworn in as the 47th President of the United States.
Junior Yofraneys Ena said while others couldn’t have expected the inauguration ceremony to be rescheduled to observe MLK Day, it was “crazy that it just happened to fall on that schedule.”
The overlap is “very significant” and made for a “politically charged day that people should come to terms with,” Odiase said.
“[It’s] a day to be very aware and be appreciative of who’s done great in the past, but then also being able to understand how to take on this legacy and try to push policy forward,” he added.
Ena said he believes if former Vice President Kamala Harris had won the 2024 presidential election, the overlap of her inauguration and MLK Day “would have been completely different” and “more emphasized.”
Curran said the Gotlieb Center hopes Saturday’s celebration shows students they can make a difference by highlighting King’s story.
“We expect the students to have the story come alive, inspire them, have them be able to relate to Dr. King, seeing him as a BU student just like they are and knowing that they can make an impact on the world going forward,” Curran said.
