Queens College To Host Annual Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day Commemoration January 18

Queens College will present its annual Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day Commemoration on Sunday, January 18, 2026, at Goldstein Theatre on the Queens College campus.

The event will recognize award-winning journalist and civil rights advocate Carol Jenkins as the 2026 recipient of the Queens College Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Award and will include a musical performance by jazz vocalist Tyreek McDole. The program is cosponsored by Donovan Richards Jr. and is presented on the theme, “Where do we go from here?”

For more than a decade, Queens College has hosted an annual commemoration celebrating the life and legacy of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his historic connection to the institution. Dr. King delivered a speech at Queens College in 1965 at Colden Auditorium, a visit that continues to shape the college’s engagement with civil rights history and social justice.

The January 18 program will begin at 3:00 p.m. with a recognition ceremony and keynote address delivered by Jenkins, followed by a performance by the Tyreek McDole Quintet at 4:00 p.m. Queens College President Frank H. Wu will moderate the program. Richards will offer remarks, while Queens College Student Association President Shawn Rajkumar and Queens College Black Student Union President Janil Pandey will bring greetings.

Jenkins is the founding host of the interview program Black America, now in its eleventh season on the City University of New York’s television station. The program received a national Telly Award in 2025 for Best Interview Program for its conversation with filmmaker Spike Lee. Jenkins is an Emmy Award–winning broadcast journalist and has served as founding president of The Women's Media Center, as well as president and CEO of the ERA Coalition and Fund for Women's Equality, where she led national efforts advancing constitutional equality and civil rights protections.

The musical portion of the program will feature selections from McDole’s debut album Open Up Your Senses, which blends original compositions with freedom songs and spirituals rooted in the tradition of Black American music.

President Wu said, “At Queens College, we try every day to live out the values for which Dr. King stood. Whether it's through community projects, advocacy, or educational programs, we're always looking for ways to strengthen our connections and make a positive impact—both on campus and in our neighborhood. We're also deeply proud of our historic connection to Dr. King. When he visited this campus in May of 1965, he left us with insights that continue to resonate sixty years later. While our society has moved forward in many ways, we know there is still important work ahead. This is both a moment to honor what's been accomplished and a reminder to stay committed to creating a fairer, more equitable future.”

Queens College has a longstanding history connected to the civil rights movement. In 1964, Queens College student Andrew Goodman was killed alongside James Chaney and Michael Schwerner while participating in a voter registration project in Mississippi. In 1965, Dr. King served as the inaugural speaker in the college’s John F. Kennedy Memorial Lecture Series. In 2015, the college posthumously awarded Goodman an honorary doctoral degree during its 91st commencement ceremony. The college has also produced a docuseries, Legacy Connection: QC & Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., examining alumni involvement in the civil rights movement through materials housed in the Civil Rights Archive at the Benjamin S. Rosenthal Library.

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