The University of Lynchburg will celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy with a series of public events, all with the theme of “Still We Rise — The Dream, The Duty, and The Divine Legacy.” All events are free and the public is welcome to attend.
A virtual panel discussion, “One Table, Many Voices,” will be held at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 20. The dialogue will focus on King’s “legacy and his commitment to civic renewal by campaigning to build justice, pluralism, inclusion, and belonging.”
Panelists will include Robert Barnette, immediate past president of the Virginia NAACP and former president of the Hanover County NAACP; the Rev. Dr. Daniel Harrison, a local civil rights activist and co-pastor of Church of the Covenant; and Rabbi Jocee Hudson, campus rabbi and senior Jewish educator at University of Southern California Hillel.
On Wednesday, Jan. 21, “Let Freedom Speak,” a program of Martin Luther King Jr. readings and recitations, will be held in the Drysdale Student Center’s West Room. The event will feature Petrina “Trin-A-Thoughtz” Bryant, a North Carolina-based spoken word artist, along with students, faculty, staff, and members of the greater community.
Bryant last performed on campus in April 2025 at Lynchburg’s annual Mosaic Gala.
A “Courageous Conversation” will be held at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 22. The virtual event will feature Dr. Chris Burton, a minister, teacher, writer, and promotional speaker who podcasts as “Di Baddest Chaplain.”
Among other things, Burton has participated in the Obama Foundation Leaders Program and the Fred Rogers Institute’s Educators’ Neighborhood. He has been featured in The Presbyterian Outlook and was named a “Top 40 Under 40” in 2025 by Style Weekly magazine.
Burton’s talk, “Hope Does Not Disappoint,” will “remind and introduce the audience to the purpose of hope” and “aims to provide the tools we need to keep going and keep joy at the center.”
What’s being called the “MLK Week of Dreams, Duty, and Divine Legacy” concludes at 4 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 23, with the annual Unity March. The walk begins at Snidow Chapel and ends at Drysdale Student Center’s West Room, where Desmond Mosby, a community organizer and activist, will give a keynote address.
Mosby’s work centers around civic engagement, education, and youth development. He is the president of the Lynchburg Voters League, works with youth and families at Diamond Hill Baptist Church, and is a doctoral student in public policy.
For more information or to access the virtual events, contact Dr. Robert L. Canida II, Lynchburg’s chief inclusive excellence officer, at [email protected].
