Several events around Evanston and on the Northwestern University campus are planned to celebrate the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on the holiday Monday in his name.
Interfaith Action will hold its third annual family-friendly Walk for Warmth at 11 a.m. Monday.
The two-mile walk through central Evanston starts at 11 a.m. at First United Methodist Church, 516 Church St. The event will help to raise awareness of homelessness and hunger in Evanston. There is no charge, but registration is required.
The city, the Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre and the Youth and Senior Theatre Ensemble Project have partnered to broadcast a melodic collage of multigenerational, multiracial faces and voices delivering a portion of the iconic “I Have A Dream” speech Dr. King delivered on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. on August 28, 1963.
The video will be available for viewing on the FJT website beginning at noon on Monday.
A mural designed by local artist Ben Blount and inspired by the City of Evanston’s 2019 Resolution to End Structural Racism and Achieve Racial Equity will be dedicated at 1:30 p.m. Monday at 600 Washington St.
Blount will speak at the dedication along with Mayor Daniel Biss and Council Member Cicely Fleming, and a ribbon will be cut to symbolically open the mural for business.
The mural was commissioned by the Main-Dempster Mile and installed in partnership with the Evanston Mural Arts Program, a program of Art Encounter.
The Evanston Public Library will present two short films based on best-selling children’s books to get an elementary school overview of Dr. King and the American Civil Rights movement at 2 p.m. Monday, followed by a moving re-enactment of a part of Dr. King’s “I Have A Dream” speech by the Rev. Eddie Reeves. Register to attend online.
The Alpha Mu chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha, Dr. King’s fraternity will raise funds for March of Dimes with a virtual candlelight vigil at 3 p.m. Monday. Donate to March of Dimes / March for Babies here. Register to attend on Zoom.
A variety of additional events related to Dr. King will be held at Northwestern.
Those events will culminate on Monday, Jan, 24, with a virtual keynote speech by Nikole Hannah-Jones, the investigative reporter who created the 1619 Project for the New York Times, commemorating the 40th anniversary of the beginning of slavery in what would become the United States.