Newsletter

Remembering a King: Continentals Honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Legacy

By Eva Jo McIlraith

February 26, 2025

On Wednesday, January 29th, the Annex of the Tolles Pavilion was filled with warmth, reflection, and unity as students, faculty, staff and community members gathered for the annual MLK Remembrance Dinner. Around 150 attendees from around campus and beyond came together to honor the enduring legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. through a shared meal and meaningful conversations. 

Upon entering the pavilion, attendees gathered around tables and were greeted with reflection prompts to inspire conversation and contemplation on community building, empathy, and equality—key values held by the evening’s honoree. After guests found their seats and dove into dialogue, Vice President for D.E.I. Sean Bennett gave his opening remarks before introducing a fantastic, southern-inspired dinner of blackened catfish with peach chutney, roasted chicken thighs, southern collard greens, cornbread, and banana pudding and peach-blueberry cobbler for dessert. As plates were filled with delicious food, the atmosphere buzzed with a sense of camaraderie and shared purpose.

As food was served and eaten, numerous speakers offered their wise words and thoughts to an enthusiastic audience. Professor Vincent Odamtten of the Literature and Africana Studies Departments opened the floor with words on his time at Hamilton and in Ghana, working with students and faculty. Penny Yee, Hamilton’s Associate Dean of Faculty spoke on the intersections between marginalized groups, calling attention to the Lunar New Year holiday and reflecting on her own experience as a Chinese-American academic in a growing group of professors that share her background.

Next, Hamilton’s president Steven Tepper spoke alongside student Tinashe Manguaw in the form of a spoken letter responding to MLK’s Letter from Birmingham Jail. The speech touched on both President Tepper’s and Tinashe’s childhoods, noting patterns of enduring racism and discrimination across generations. 

Opportunity Program Director Aaron Ray took to the podium next, highlighting the present economic, social, and cultural struggles that students of color face and the importance of spaces for marginalized groups. Ru Lambert, an Opportunity Program student and mentee of Aaron, and a Multicultural Fellow at the DMC, spoke next, building on Aaron’s speech by speaking from her experience as a student of color on Hamilton’s campus and the steps toward inclusion and acceptance that these struggles necessitate. She challenged the Hamilton community to move beyond performative action and take responsibility for the positive culture that can be created. “Our space could be different. We must make that choice first, together,” Ru urged.

Dean KinHo Chan and ALEX Advisor Kevin Alexander ended the night with speeches on the strength that comes in numbers when community building, and how that same community building can be created and sustained at Hamilton College.

This gathering was not simply a passive reflection of Dr. King’s character, vision, and life’s work, but also served to contextualize modern struggles of inequality, discrimination, and tension in our societies, communities, and institutions. Many attendees and speakers throughout the evening remarked on how modern day America is not isolated from the racist structures of the past, but is rather only understood through them, and will be bound by them until the work is put in to deconstruct and rebuild beyond them. Hamilton College, let’s keep the conversation going.

This meaningful evening was made possible by the Days-Massolo Multicultural Center (DMC), led by its Director, Dr. Koboul E. Mansour, and  the DMC fellows. The goal of the event, to honor a revolutionary’s life and align his aspirations for the future with the world we are shaping today, was brought to life by the many students, staff, and speakers that dedicated their time to the meaning and message of the evening.