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CORVALLIS, Ore. – Oregon State University’s 42nd annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Commemoration will take place next month and be highlighted by a keynote address by scholar, author and activist Keeanga-Yamahatta Taylor on Jan. 31.

Taylor, a professor in the Department of African American Studies at Princeton University and a contributing writer at The New Yorker, will speak about the intersections of race and class in the pursuit of Black liberation.

Her work addresses Black politics, social movements and racial inequality in the United States. She is a 2021 MacArthur Foundation Fellow, and recently wrote “Race for Profit: How Banks and the Real Estate Industry Undermined Black Homeownership.”

Taylor will speak at 7 p.m. Jan. 31 in the La Sells Stewart Center on the Corvallis campus. The talk is free to attend and open to the public. Registration is required. The speech will also be livestreamed.

The Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Commemoration begins Jan. 13 with volunteer events throughout the community as part of the annual Saturday of Service, which is hosted by Community Engagement & Leadership.

The commemoration also includes a peace breakfast in the CH2M HILL Alumni Center on the Corvallis campus at 9 a.m. Jan. 15. The breakfast is open to Oregon State community members and invited guests. Registration is free and required by Jan. 5.

Following the breakfast, the peace march, led by OSU students, will begin at 11 a.m. and follow a 1-mile route from the La Sells Stewart Center to the Student Experience Center Plaza, where there will be a brief program and refreshments. 

Oregon State’s Office of Institutional Diversity is hosting the commemoration with support from the OSU Foundation and Alumni Association.