Each year Goshen College honors the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by holding an all-school study day, emphasizing the values and ideals that characterized King’s work.
2023 King Celebration: “Hidden Treasures: Untold Stories”
Dates: January 14-16, 2023
Dr. Darryl Heller, director of the IU South Bend Civil Rights Heritage Center and an assistant professor of women’s and gender studies
Keynote speaker: Dr. Darryl Heller
Darryl Heller is the director of the IU South Bend Civil Rights Heritage Center and an assistant professor of women’s and gender studies. Since arriving in South Bend in 2015, he has brought his extensive experience as an organizer and activist to the work of the Civil Rights Heritage Center, transforming it into a vibrant hub of activity in the fight for civil rights and social justice. He also teaches and facilitates discussions on the difficult topics of the history of racism and white supremacy, race construction, and the intersection of race and gender.
After receiving his B.A. in philosophy from the College of Charleston in the early 1980s, Heller spent 20 years working in the fields of human services, community development and political activism. While living in New York City, he earned an M.A. in American studies from Columbia University. He also co-founded of the Amistad Institute, a nonprofit organization with the mission to design, develop and implement educational programs for inner-city communities. Heller came to the Midwest to pursue additional studies and earned his Ph.D. in history from the University of Chicago.
2023 Event Schedule
**Students can earn up to two convocation credits by attending events marked with the double asterisk.**
-
Saturday, January 14
- 7:30 p.m. – Faculty Recital: H. Roz Woll and Roy Jennings, Music Center, Rieth Recital Hall
Performances by: Nakiyah Kilpatrick, Jakyra Green, Lloyd Brodnax King, Kent Dutchersmith, Birch Baer, Akira Murotani
Tickets: $8 general | $6 seniors | FREE for GC students, faculty, staff
*all ticket proceeds to benefit the GC Black Student Union -
Sunday, January 15
- 9:30 a.m. – College Mennonite Church Service: Dr. Darryl Heller, Church-Chapel
- 7 p.m. – Documentary Film and Panel Discussion: Goshen – A Sundown Town’s Transformation, Umble Center
-
Monday, January 16
- 10-11:30 a.m. – King Convocation featuring keynote speaker: Dr. Darryl Heller, Church-Chapel Sanctuary**
- 1-2:15 p.m. – Student Voices: Black Student Union, Church-Chapel South Fellowship Hall**
Not open to the public; BIPOC students, faculty, staff only - 2:30-3:45 p.m. – Administration and Faculty Voices: Call to Action, Church-Chapel South Fellowship Hall**
Read about when Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. visited Goshen College on March 10, 1960
At the time, King was leading the struggle for racial equality throughout the South.
Archive: Past MLK Jr. Study Days
2022 – Speaker: Dr. Vilna Bashi Treitler
2021 – Speaker: President Rebecca Stoltzfus and “Senior Administrators Speak: Equity & Justice in Action at Goshen College”
2020 – Speaker: Regina Shands Stoltzfus
2019 – Guests: Tiana Clark and Dr. LaKendra Hardware
2018 – Guest: Leonard Dow
2017 – Guest: Sarah Thompson
2016 – Guests: Sofia Samatar and Drew Hart
2015 – Guests: Ewuare Osayande and Rev. Kanyere Eaton
2014 – Guests: Anthony Brown and Rebecca Kubacki
2013 – Guests: Dr. Wilbert Smith and Dana Johnson
2012 – Guest speaker: Vincent Harding
2011 – Guests: African-American religious historian Dr. Quinton Dixie and Latino fiction writer Manuel Luis Martinez
2010 – Guests: baritone Anthony Brown, Latina poet Brenda Cárdenas and the Indianapolis youth-led group Latino Youth Collective
2009 – Guests: director of the Indiana University-South Bend Heritage Center Monica Tetzlaff and Triple G Mime Group
2008 – AfriCaribe and African-American theologian Dwight N. Hopkins