WSU’s Martin Luther King Community Celebration

Distinguished Professor Emerita of History of Consciousness and Feminist Studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz, Dr. Angela Davis visited Washington State University in January 2015 as the keynote speaker for WSU’s Martin Luther King Community Celebration. This year’s theme for the MLK celebration was The Dream Behind Bars.

In the 1960s and 1970s, Dr. Davis was an iconic activist, and she has recently become more known as a leading scholar of mass incarceration and the “prison industrial complex.” Dr. Davis’s keynote speech connected Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s work to the current problems with the criminal justice system.

In addition to Professor Davis’s lecture that evening, several other events and highlights related to criminal justice took place during the program, including discussion about the Prison Debate Project, Inmate Art Exhibit, and our very own Dr. Faith Lutze receiving an award!

Dr. Lutze received the Martin Luther King, Jr. Distinguished Service Award, which is an award based upon the nominees’ demonstrated altruism, community service, efforts to advance diversity, as well as educational commitment to inclusion. You can read more here.