News

The Bob Graham Center for Public Service, the African American Studies Program, and the Department of History at the University of Florida have announced that noted Civil Rights scholar Hasan Kwame Jeffries, Ph.D., is this year’s keynote for the University’s annual Martin Luther King, Jr. lecture.

This year’s lecture will take place on Jan. 16 at 5 p.m., in Pugh Hall. A livestream is also available.

Jeffries is the College of Arts and Sciences Alumni Associate Professor of History at Ohio State University. A renowned Black studies scholar and historian, Jeffries appears as a frequent guest on radio, television, and podcasts. He contributes to Black history programs nationwide, served as the lead historian for the 2010 renovation of the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Hotel in Memphis, Tennessee, and helps develop anti-racist programming in U.S schools.

Jeffries’ lecture, titled “Where do we go from here? Afrofuturism and Dr. King’s Vision for America” will discuss how Martin Luther King’s blueprint for an ideal America has been followed, and what steps are needed to realize that vision. In addition to a society free of racism, King’s vision included rejecting corporate greed and militarism while embracing justice, peace, and economic equality.

The Martin Luther King, Jr. Lecture Series program is sponsored by the Center for African American Studies, the Bob Graham Center for Public Service, and the College of Liberal Arts and Science, with additional support from the Department of History, the UF Office of Student Engagement, and the Center for Arts, Migration and Entrepreneurship in the College of the Arts.

The event is free and open to the public. Attendees are invited to a free reception with the speaker immediately following the lecture. For more information, check out our calendar here.