On Monday, January 19th, 2026, the 56th Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Breakfast will be held in Boston.

The MLK Breakfast Memorial Committee is comprised of representatives from St. Cyprian’s Episcopal Church and Union United Methodist Church. The event is the longest-running celebration of its kind in the U.S.; scholarships are provided each year to students from nine Boston public high schools.

Nikole Hannah-Jones, investigative reporter for The New York Times and recipient of numerous awards and honors, will give the keynote address:  “The Fierce Urgency of Now: Revolutionary Love, Liberation, and Joy”. Inaugural Knight Chair in Race and Journalism at the Howard University School of Communications, she has compiled various editions of the 1619 Project, including most recently The 1619 Project: A Visual Experience (NY: Clarkson Potter, 2024). This illustrated work includes newly-commissioned artwork and archival images.

-Mary Beth Clack, Mary Blocher, Cindy Coldren, Pat Krol & Liz Levin