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DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.
BIRTHDAY OBSERVANCE COMMITTEE 

Commemorating 35 Years of Celebration

We are volunteers dedicated to highlighting the importance of civil rights leader

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in his lifetime and ours. 

Since 1989 our committee has put on a free, public, yearly celebration in Arlington of his achievements, with a keynote speaker, blessings from local faith leaders, music and singing, and refreshments. Originally held in a Baptist Church with a potluck supper, the Observance moved to Town Hall in 2008. We gave up the warmth of the potluck supper and the Baptist setting appropriate to the Reverend Dr. King. However, we gained a larger audience and a civic space comfortable to people of all faiths.

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Celebrating our 38th year of commemorating the

Life and Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

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Arlington Town Hall

January 19th, 2026

6:30 pm​​​​

2025 Speaker

Kellie Carter Jackson

Kellie Carter Jackson is an American academic scholar, author and broadcaster researching the history of slavery, abolitionists, violence and black women’s history.

 

Carter Jackson is Associate Professor of Africana Studies at Wellesley College, Chair of Africana, Wellesley College, and author of two highly regarded books: Force and Freedom, and We Refuse: A Forceful History of Black Resistance. She is co-host of @ThisDayPod @Yougetapodcastmuch and a much in-demand lecturer. 

Music by Peoples Baptist Church Male Chorus, directed by Marcia Scott
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We rely on community support to put on this beloved celebration each year and sustain our work all year round. Please consider contributing today.

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Donations can also be submitted by mail to

Arlington Martin Luther King

Birthday Observance Committee

PO Box 320

Arlington, MA

02476

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“Love is creative and redemptive. Love builds up and unites; hate tears down and destroys. The aftermath of the ‘fight with fire’ method which you suggest is bitterness and chaos, the aftermath of the love method is reconciliation and creation of the beloved community. Physical force can repress, restrain, coerce, destroy, but it cannot create and organize anything permanent; only love can do that. Yes, love—which means understanding, creative, redemptive goodwill, even for one’s enemies—is the solution to the race problem.”
excerpt from "Advice for Living" 1957 

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Arlington Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Birthday Observance Committee

P.O. Box 320 Arlington, MA 02476

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