BU Libraries to celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. Day with community tours of King Reading Room
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at his press conference at Boston University, with Gus Harrer, University Librarian, in background, 1964: King is answering questions from the press about his decision to donate his papers to Boston University. Image source: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Collection, Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center, Boston University Libraries
The Boston University Libraries join the Howard Thurman Center, the City of Boston, BU African American & Black Diaspora Studies, and BU Government & Community Affairs in inviting all to the 2026 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day Celebration. The annual celebration features thoughtful and inspirational speakers and provides community members and opportunity to tour the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Reading Room in Mugar Memorial Library.
Register for the event | Register for a tour
This year’s event, held on Monday, January 19, at 12 pm in the Metcalf Ballroom of the George Sherman Union, will feature Dr. Eve L. Ewing as the keynote speaker. Ewing is a writer, scholar, and cultural organizer from Chicago. An associate professor in the Department of Race, Diaspora, and Indigeneity at the University of Chicago, she is the award-winning author of five books. Her most recent book is Original Sins: The (Mis)education of Black and Native Children and the Construction of American Racism, an instant New York Times and USA Today bestseller. This year’s event theme is Justice Indivisible: Fighting Racism, Greed, and War.
Following the speaking program, archivists from the Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center at the BU Libraries will provide tours of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Reading Room. The BU Libraries proudly holds an archival collection of Dr. King’s manuscripts, notebooks, correspondence, printed material, financial and legal papers, photographs, and other items dating from 1947 to 1964. Through drafts of sermons, speeches, and books; telegrams, programs, leaflets, manuscripts; and personal correspondence, the Reading Room exhibition provides an intimate view of Dr. King’s time at the University, and his leadership of the nonviolent Civil Rights Movement.
Tours will begin 2 pm and run approximately every 20 minutes through 3:30 pm. Meet at the library entrance on the first floor of the George Sherman Union to join a tour.
Visitors are welcome to visit Martin Luther King, Jr. Reading Room at another time during the library’s open hours by making an appointment through this form.
More information about Dr. King’s Papers is available in the finding aid to the collection:
Research appointments to view the archives can be requested by writing to archives@bu.edu