Boston University MLK Day Program Centers Women of the Civil Rights Movement

Uncategorized 2026-07-22 clip6183 · Meeting of July 22, 2026

Boston University's Howard Thurman Center hosted its annual MLK Day celebration Monday under the theme "Era of the Woman," drawing a packed ballroom of students, city officials, and community members for speeches, music, and student readings honoring Coretta Scott King, Sue Bailey Thurman, and Aretha Franklin. Mayor Martin J. Walsh announced that The Embrace — a sculpture memorializing Dr. and Mrs.

King — will be installed on Boston Common in 2020, and that Boston will host the National NAACP Convention in July for the first time in more than 40 years. U.S. Senator Edward Markey, who noted he would sit as a Senate impeachment juror the following day, called for equal pay, reparations, and criminal justice reform, saying "truth crushed to earth will rise again." Boston Public Schools Superintendent Dr.

Brenda Cassellius delivered the keynote, grounding her address in her family's civil rights history — including the 1940 landmark wage equity case Alston v. City of Norfolk School Committee, argued by Thurgood Marshall — and called on the audience to act on "the fierce urgency of now" for Boston's schoolchildren.

In the full story:

• Who Was There
• Organizations And Documents Referenced
• The complete report — 2,585 words

Source: the Uncategorized 2026-07-22 clip6183 meeting of July 22, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.