Click here to visit Engage W&L

"Join us this MLK Day as we come together to build a Beloved Community. Let's honor Dr. King's legacy through service and volunteerism and demonstrate how joining together in service can transform your life and the lives of others. Whether it's a small or big act of kindness, service has the power to unite people, build bridges, and heal divides." (AmeriCorps Website) This year, the Office of Community Based Learning has partnered with the MLK Week Planning Committee to help promote service opportunities in and around Lexington/Rockbridge County leading up to, during, and following MLK Day. We encourage everyone to embrace the Beloved Community and get involved with these opportunities to honor and continue Dr. King's legacy. Visit the Engage W&L / GivePulse site to find out how to serve!

Engage W&L, powered by GivePulse, is an online platform that supports student volunteering and community engagement in the Rockbridge area. Students can find, sign up for, log experiences, and connect with community members and agencies on this platform. All W&L students have an Engage W&L account.

The national "Martin Luther King, Jr., National Day of Service" was started by former Pennsylvania U.S. Senator Harris Wofford and Atlanta Congressman John Lewis, who co-authored the King Holiday and Service Act. The federal legislation challenges Americans to transform the King Holiday into a day of citizen action volunteer service in honor of King. The federal legislation was signed into law by President Bill Clinton on August 23, 1994. Since then, the Day of Service has been coordinated nationally by AmeriCorps, a federal agency, which provides grants to organizations that coordinate service activities on MLK Day.

Children of the Lexington and Rockbridge County community are invited to attend a birthday celebration in honor of Dr. King. There will be games, face painting, and arts and crafts. CARE will also be hosting Reading in Color with 3 reading sessions for younger children, as well as a raffle to win a copy of one of the books. Cake, snacks and punch will be provided.

Reading in Color - Readings will occur in Rm. 109

11:30am - It Starts With Me
12:00pm - What Love Looks Like
12:30pm - My Red, White and Blue

Join the W&L Chanoyu Tea society in honoring the legacy of Reverend Martin Luther King on Monday January 20, 2025 with a Senshin’an Tearoom Open House in the Watson Galleries from 12:30pm-2:30 pm. This event is free and open to the public with no Calendly registration required. We will be serving traditional Japanese sweets and teaching how to whisk your own bowl of matcha using the various tea bowls in our collection! You will learn about basic tea utensils, how to properly whisk matcha and the different kind of matcha tea grades.

Click here to reserve an in-person ticket

Click here to register for the Zoom Webinar

Washington and Lee University will celebrate the life and legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. with a weeklong series of events featuring a keynote address by Dr. Melissa Harris-Perry, a scholar and writer known for her significant contributions to political science, African American studies and public discourse on race, gender and politics. Harris-Perry’s moderated talk will occur at 6 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 20, in the Lenfest Center’s Keller Theatre. The talk is free and open to the public. Dr. Dayo Abah, provost faculty fellow and professor of journalism and mass communications, will serve as moderator.

Harris-Perry has held prestigious academic positions, including professorships at the University of Chicago, Princeton University, Tulane University and Wake Forest University, where she has taught since 2014. She currently serves as the Maya Angelou Presidential Chair in the Department of Politics and International Affairs at Wake Forest, where she also teaches in the Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and with the Environment and Sustainability Program.

An influential political commentator and media personality, Harris-Perry was the final host and managing editor of The Takeaway, a daily public radio broadcast and podcast from WNYC Studios. She is co-creator of WNYC’s special series The Takeaway Deep Dives podcast and The Nation’s System Check podcast. From 2012 to 2016, Harris-Perry hosted the weekend morning show “Melissa Harris-Perry” on MSNBC, where she gained national recognition for her insightful political commentary and discussions on social justice issues.

Harris-Perry has been a regular columnist for The Nation and served as an editor-at-large with Elle.com and ZORA. She is the author of the award-winning book, “Barbershops, Bibles, and BET: Everyday Talk and Black Political Thought,” which looks at the complex landscape of Black political discourse through everyday spaces of conversation and community interaction, and “Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes, and Black Women in America,” which explores the complex experiences of Black women in the United States.

Harris-Perry is the founder and president of the Anna Julia Cooper Center, whose mission is to advance justice through intersectional scholarship and action. She has been a vocal advocate for racial and gender equity, using her platforms to discuss systemic inequalities and promote social justice.

Harris-Perry earned a Bachelor of Arts in English from Wake Forest University and a Ph.D. in political science from Duke University. She also studied theology at Union Theological Seminary in New York.

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In honor of the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr, join the Art Museum and Galleries for a Lunch & Learn with Professor Mohamed Kamara, who will speak to the role of art in advancing King’s dream and King’s vision of the Beloved Community. Prof. Kamara will explore how the Beloved Community can become a rendezvous point where interactions between individuals and peoples are informed and determined by a clear acceptance of our differences and the interdependence of all earthly forces. Visit the link above to RSVP.

Special Collections and Archives the W&L and local communities to our open house where we will feature items related to Dr. Martin Luther King and his legacy. All are welcome, and we ask visitors to leave any food or drink brought with them outside the venue.

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The MLK Reflections event allows community members to gather to reflect on the lessons of Dr. King's life and work. Each year we invite a range of leaders from both our campus community and our Lexington community to participate to offer a brief commentary on their view of Dr. King's legacy, what Dr. King has meant to that individual, or to our community, or to our country or our world or our students...the possibilities are endless. This event is open to the public, and a meal will be provided. Please RSVP at the link above.

Connecting audience members through the ritual of viewing a movie, enjoying food, and discussing reactions, the Screen to Square Film Series helps individuals reflect on how they perform their civic duties. The theme for the 2024-2025 season is “Work, Play, and Southern Racial Reality.” On Thursday, 1/23 at 6PM in Washington & Lee University’s Stackhouse Theater, we will continue this year’s explorations by showing Season 2, Episode 3 of High on the Hog: How African American Cuisine Transformed America, “The Defiance.” Following the screening, at approximately 7:15PM, we will have a tasting featuring traditional soul food desserts. This event is free, and all are invited. Before the dessert tasting, during the screening, pizza and drinks will be available.

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W&L Hillel and the Class of 1994 Office of Inclusion and Engagement invite all members of the W&L and Lexington community to join us for a Shabbat dinner and service honoring the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. We will gather at 6pm in the Hillel Sanctuary. Seating is limited - visit the link above to RSVP.

W&L’s African Society will be hosting their annual African Society Fashion Show and Dance. Come see fashion from all around the continent of Africa and enjoy African inspired dances.

Join with us as we honor Dr. King's contributions to America with the wonderful Lexington tradition of the Martin Luther King Jr. Remembrance Concert. Readings of speeches and poems by Dr. King, Maya Angelou, Langston Hughes, and many others become interspersed with musical reflections performed by the W&L University Singers, Cantatrici, and the Glee Club. No tickets are required.