Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration

Join the University of Chicago community as we honor the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and reflect on our collective responsibility to work towards a more equitable society.

The keynote speaker for this year will be Eric H. Holder, Jr. ,lawyer and voting rights advocate;
Former Attorney General of the United States

Eric H. Holder, Jr. is an internationally recognized leader on a broad range of legal issues and lifelong advocate for civil rights. Including his tenure as the 82nd Attorney General, Holder served in government for more than 30 years, having been appointed to various positions requiring U.S. senate confirmation by Presidents Obama, Clinton, and Reagan. Holder's highly anticipated book Our Unfinished March: The Violent Past and Imperiled Future of the Vote - A History, A Crisis, A Plan was published in 2022.

After the keynote, Holder will be joined in conversation by Valerie Jarrett, CEO of the Obama Foundation, University Trustee, and Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Law School.

The program will also feature performances by Uniting Voices Chicago (formerly the Chicago Children's Choir).