The University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) will hold its Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Black History Month 2025 celebration on Feb. 6, from noon to 1:30 p.m., at MSTF Leadership Hall, with a reception/light lunch to follow in the atrium outside the auditorium.

This annual event combines inspirational speeches, a spoken-word performance, music by local musicians, and awards given to worthy colleagues and community members who promote equity, diversity, and inclusion at the University and beyond.

The keynote speaker will be Darrick Hamilton, PhD, a well-regarded scholar, economist, and intellectual nationally recognized for his research and work in actively advancing racial and economic justice through movement organizing. He is a university professor, the Henry Cohen Professor of Economics and Urban Policy, and founding director of the Institute on Race, Power, and Political Economy at The New School, a private college in New York City.

The spoken-word performance will be given by Lady Brion, MFA, an international spoken-word artist, activist, organizer, and educator who serves as executive director of the Black Arts District, an organization she founded in 2019. In 2024, she was appointed by Gov. Wes Moore as the poet laureate of Maryland, making her the youngest poet laureate in Maryland history and the first spoken-word artist to hold this position.

UMB’s Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion will recognize the MLK Diversity Recognition Award winners, honoring students, faculty, and staff at UMB whose personal or professional work sustains Dr. King’s legacy of building a free and just society. In addition, the UMB Community Champions of Equity and Justice Awards will be handed out, honoring a local community member and organization for advancing equity and justice in Baltimore.

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