Each year, UMB commemorates the legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.This celebration reinforces UMB’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. An inspiring keynote message is delivered by a distinguished leader or scholar in the field of diversity, equity, and inclusion.This year’s keynote message is “Fulfilling Dr. King's Legacy from Civil Rights to Economic Rights: Causes, Consequences, and Remedies to Fulfill Economic and Racial Justice.”KEYNOTE SPEAKER: Darrick Hamilton, PhD, Henry Cohen Professor of Economics and Urban Policy and Founding Director of the Institute on Race, Power and Political Economy, The New School, New York City.

Baltimore Racial Justice Action (BRJA) is a Black-led, multiracial, intergenerational organization focusing on anti-racism/anti-oppression consulting and public education while working to facilitate transformative change — individually, institutionally, and ultimately societally — toward racial justice and justice related to other oppressive systems.It works to provide tools and services to organizations and individuals interested in working to dismantle the anti-Black, white supremacist power structures within most U.S. institutions that disproportionately impact the livelihoods, health, and well-being of Black and non-Black people of color and communities, and to assist connections being made to other forms of oppression.Dottye Burt-Markowitz, one of the co-founders of the group, speaks about the organization's work as it was honored with a University of Maryland, Baltimore Community Champion of Equity and Justice Award at the 2025 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Black History Month Celebration on Feb. 6.Learn more about BRJA and the awards: https://elm.umaryland.edu/elm-stories/2025/Community-Champion-of-Equity-and-Justice-Award-Winner-Baltimore-Racial-Justice-Action.php