Campus Life

45th annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Banquet to be held Jan. 15

Tickets for Bryce Jordan Center event, for individual seats and group tables, are available now

On Jan. 21, 1965, Martin Luther King Jr. visited Penn State and addressed a crowd of more than 8,000 people in Recreation Hall, on the future of integration. He spoke to those assembled about the civil rights movement, America’s legacy of slavery and segregation, and the principles he believed would change the world, bringing many in the assembly to tears. Credit: Penn State University Archives / Penn StateCreative Commons

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The 45th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Banquet will be held Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2020, at the Bryce Jordan Center on Penn State’s University Park campus.

The theme for this year's banquet, which will celebrate King’s life and legacy and recognize members of the community who make a difference through King’s belief of advancing civil rights through nonviolence and civil disobedience, is "The Story of US: Exposing the Unarmed Truth."

Doors open at 5:30 p.m. and the banquet will begin at 6 p.m. The program includes a buffet dinner and cash bar, followed by performances and recognition of the 2020 Forum on Black Affairs (FOBA) Humanitarian Award recipient and student scholarship winners. Immediately following the banquet, guests are welcomed to stay for a night of dancing.

Tickets are $80 for individual adults and $750 for a table of ten. Tables are not limited at this year’s banquet and can only be confirmed after full payment has been received. Guests may register and purchase tickets online. More information about hotel accommodations, including limited rooms at a special rate, is available here. Parking will be available at the Bryce Jordan Center.

The mission of the Forum on Black Affairs is to provide educational opportunities for all citizens and is dedicated to the principle of equality for all people, manifested in a commitment to achieve equal opportunity for black people at Penn State.

For more information contact Carlos Wiley, immediate past president of FOBA and MLK Jr. Banquet Chair, at 814-865-3776, or Stephanie Danette Preston, FOBA president, at 814-863-1663.

Last Updated September 3, 2020