The Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion is proud to host an annual observance of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday at the University of Missouri–St. Louis. This annual event features inspirational speakers, music and an announcement of the MLK scholarship awards. The keynote speaker this year is Ben Jealous, former NAACP President, Equality activist, and Executive Director of the Sierra Club.
Keynote info:
Benjamin Todd Jealous is formerly President and CEO of the NAACP. The youngest president in its history, he began his career at age 18 with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. Jealous has been a leader of successful state and local movements to ban the death penalty, outlaw racial profiling, defend voting rights, secure marriage equality, and free multiple wrongfully incarcerated people. Under his leadership, the NAACP grew to be the largest civil rights organization online and on mobile, experienced its first multi-year membership growth in twenty years, and became the largest community-based nonpartisan voter registration operation in the country. Most recently Jealous was the Democratic nominee for Governor of the State of Maryland. A Rhodes Scholar, he is a graduate of Columbia and Oxford Universities.
Check the website regularly for updated details on the event.
