MLK Day Teach-In 2026

Western Michigan University’s Lewis Walker Institute for Race & Ethnic Relations invites the campus and greater Kalamazoo community to the 2026 MLK Teach-In: Un-Erased – History Will Not Be Erased, on Monday, January 16 from 1–5 p.m. in Sangren Hall.

This year’s Teach-In expands the University’s annual MLK Day of Celebration by centering the urgent need to protect historical truth at a time when efforts to limit, dilute, or erase the realities of American history are accelerating nationwide. The Teach-In will offer students, faculty, staff, and community members meaningful opportunities to engage with topics of racial justice, intergenerational memory, and collective action.

We are honored to announce that Dr. David Stovall, Professor of Black Studies and Criminology, Law & Justice at the University of Illinois Chicago and one of the nation’s leading scholars on abolitionist education and transformative justice, will serve as this year’s featured Teach-In speaker. Dr. Stovall will ground the day in a powerful discussion of truth-telling, community accountability, and the role of education in resisting contemporary forms of erasure.

The afternoon will begin with a Welcome Ceremony at 1 p.m., followed by three interactive workshop sessions designed to explore justice-centered education, community storytelling, and the responsibilities we each carry in ensuring that history is taught with honesty and integrity.

In alignment with this year’s theme, Un-Erased: Remembering What They Want Us to Forget, the Teach-In will also launch the Lewis Walker Institute’s new campus-wide campaign, History Will Not Be Erased, inviting participants to commit to everyday actions that protect historical truth. Attendees will have the opportunity to contribute their pledge to a collective installation that will remain on display throughout Black History Month.

The MLK Teach-In is free and open to the public. Faculty are encouraged to invite their classes, and staff and students from all disciplines are welcome.