DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. KEYNOTE LECTURE
The Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Keynote Lecture is a major event each January open to the entire Villanova community and to the public.
For more than twenty years, Villanova has celebrated the life and legacy of Dr. King with a series of events and programs designed to highlight continuing injustices, while also celebrating those individuals and organizations that challenge and overcome them. Past keynote speakers include Sonia Sanchez, Chaka Fattah, Cornel West, Patricia Williams, Melissa Harris-Lacewell, Timothy Tyson, Phillip Atiba Goff, Crystal Lucky, Sonya Douglas Horsford, Anthea Butler, Bryan Stevenson, M.K. Asante, Ian Haney Lopez, and Jim Wallis.
2026 Keynote Lecture: "Sustaining the Dream: The Challenges for the Contemporary Generation"
Dr. Molefi Kete Asante
Tuesday, January 20, 2026
Villanova Room, Connelly Center
7:00 PM
Molefi Kete Asante is an acclaimed scholar, author, and leading theorist of Afrocentricity. He is a professor in the Department of Africology and African American Studies at Temple University, where he founded the first doctoral program in African American Studies.
2025: Terry Nance
2024: Malcolm Kenyatta
2023: Jim Wallis
2022: Winona LaDuke
2021: Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor
2020: Valarie Kaur
2019: Ibram X. Kendi
2018: Diane Nash
2017: Ian Haney Lopez
2016: M.K. Asante
2015: Bryan Stevenson
2014: Anthea Butler
2013: Sonya Douglass Harsford
2012: Crystal Lucky