The Apollo Theater and WNYC Announce the 14th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Celebration: “The Strategic King: MLK’s Visionary Leadership”

MEDIA ALERT 

The Apollo Theater and WNYC Announce the
14^th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Celebration 

“The Strategic King: MLK’s Visionary Leadership” 

Co-Hosted by WNYC’s BRIAN LEHRER and JAMI FLOYD
With WQXR’s TERRANCE McKNIGHT as Master of Ceremonies

Co-Presented by The March on Washington Film Festival 

Sunday, January 12^th at 3:00 p.m.

WHAT: WNYC and the Apollo Theater, in collaboration with The March on Washington Film Festival, will present WNYC’s 14^th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day celebration, “The Strategic King: MLK’s Visionary Leadership,” as part of the Apollo’s Uptown Hall series, onSunday, January 12 at 3pm. This event will be hosted by WNYC’s Brian Lehrer and Jami Floyd. WQXR’s Terrance McKnight will serve as Master of Ceremonies.

This year’s celebration will focus on Dr. King and his colleagues’ skillful use of media and politically strategic tactics to influence politicians and pass key legislation in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. Panelists will discuss how Dr. King’s strategies continue to inform and inspire contemporary social justice movements, especially as some of those very protections are under attack today.

Featured guests include:

• Herb Boyd – Journalist, educator, and author
• Taylor Branch – Pulitzer Prize-winning author and historian
• Rev. Dr. Canon Kelly Brown Douglas – Dean, Episcopal Divinity School at Union Theological Seminary
• Jonathan Capehart – Washington Post Opinion Writer
• Dorothy Butler Gilliam – Journalist
• Mary-Pat Hector – National Youth Director for National Action Network
• Khalil Gibran Muhammad – Professor of History, Race, and Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School and the Radcliffe Institute
• Rashad Robinson – President, Color of Change
• Bakari Sellers – Former South Carolina State Representative, attorney, political commentator and politician

Performances and presentations by:

• Jessica Care Moore – Playwright and producer
• Natasha Trethewey – Pulitzer Prize-winner and U.S. Poet Laureate
• Carrie Mae Weems – Artist and MacArthur Fellow

WHERE: Apollo Theater
253 West 125^th Street.
New York, NY 10027

TICKETS:  “The Strategic King: MLK’s Visionary Leadership” is free and open to the public, but RSVPs are mandatory at: apollotheater.org/uptownhall. Tickets are available now.

CONTACT:  All media outlets interested in covering MUST submit requests via email to press@apollotheater.org

ABOUT US:

WNYC
With an urban vibrancy and a global perspective, WNYC is New York’s public radio station, broadcasting and streaming award-winning journalism, groundbreaking audio programming, and essential talk radio to the city and beyond. WNYC is a leading member station of NPR and also broadcasts programs from the BBC World Service, along with a roster of WNYC-produced local programs that champion the stories and spirit of New York City and the surrounding region. From its state-of-the-art studios, WNYC is reshaping audio for a new generation of listeners, producing some of the most-loved nationally-syndicated public radio programs including Radiolab, On the Media, The Takeaway and Snap Judgment. WNYC broadcasts on 93.9 FM and AM 820 to listeners in New York and the tri-state area, and is available to audiences everywhere at WNYC.org, the WNYC appand through major digital radio services, all made possible through the generous support of our members, donors and sponsors.

Apollo Theater
The legendary Apollo Theater—the soul of American culture—plays a vital role in cultivating emerging artists and launching legends. Since its founding, the Apollo has served as a center of innovation and a creative catalyst for Harlem, the city of New York, and the world.

With music at its core, the Apollo’s programming extends to dance, theater, spoken word, and more. This includes special programs such as the blockbuster concert Bruno Mars Live at the Apollo, 100: The Apollo Celebrates Ella, the annual Africa Now! Festival, and the New York premiere of the opera We Shall Not Be Moved. The Apollo is a performing arts presenting organization that also produces festivals and large-scale dance and music works organized around a set of core initiatives that celebrate and extend the Apollo’s legacy through a contemporary lens; global festivals including the Women of the World (WOW) Festival and Breakin’ Convention, international and U.S.-based artist presentations focused on a specific theme; and Special Projects, multidisciplinary collaborations with partner organizations.

Since introducing the first Amateur Night contests in 1934, the Apollo Theater has served as a testing ground for new artists working across a variety of art forms and has ushered in the emergence of many new musical genres—including jazz, swing, bebop, R&B, gospel, blues, soul, and hip-hop. Among the countless legendary performers who launched their careers at the Apollo are D’Angelo, Lauryn Hill, Machine Gun Kelly, Miri Ben Ari, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Billie Holiday, James Brown, Michael Jackson, Gladys Knight, Luther Vandross, and Stevie Wonder; and the Apollo’s forward-looking artistic vision continues to build on this legacy.

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