Barbara Lee and Elihu Harris lecture Series

barbara-lee

The Barbara Lee and Elihu Harris Lecture Series, co-produced by the Martin Luther King Jr. Freedom Center and Peralta Community College District, promotes an ample exchange of ideas to help inspire and move forward new leadership and servantship.

Broad East Bay audiences of all ages are exposed to some of our nation’s most courageous and exemplary civil and human rights figures, engaging in creative solutions and challenges to some of the most perplexing issues facing our communities today: economic inequity, voter disenfranchisement, systemic racism, violence in schools and neighborhoods, police brutality, and the contradictions and ramifications of extreme poverty.

Lectures are organized by the youth and staff at the Freedom Center, with a focus on promoting ideas and actions rooted in principles of nonviolence, and lessons from some of our nation’s most significant civil rights struggles.

Please visit our website for announcements of upcoming lectures. Or subscribe to our email list , and we will be sure you receive upcoming announcements directly to your in-box.

Donations for Barbara Lee & Elhu Harris Lecture Series




Past lectures have included:*

  • Dr. Dorothy Cotton and Reverend C. T. Vivian, October 20, 2011, Oakland Marriott
  • Jack Hunter O’Dell and Bob Zellner, February 2, 1012, Oakland Marriott
  • Ambassador Andrew Young, October 20, 2012, Oakland Marriott
  • Congressman John Lewis, April 21, 2013, Beebee memorial Church
  • Mayor Joaquin Castro, March 16, 2013, Oakland Marriott
  • Dr. Helene Gaynes, April 20, 2013, Parks Chapel AME Church
  • Donzaleigh Abernathy, Luci Baines Johnson, Kerry Kennedy and Peggy Wallace Kennedy, November 9, 2013
  • Martin Luther King III, March 29, 2014, Allen Temple Baptist Church
  • Peter V. Lee and Dr. Coyness Ennix, April 24, 2014, Merritt College
  • Dolores Huerta and Senator Art Torres, November 15, 2014, Mills College
  • Reverend James Lawson, Jr, March 21, 2015, First African Methodist Episcopal Church
  • Minnijean Brown Trickey and Dr. Terrence Roberts, April 11, 2015, Oakland Marriott
  • Dr. Clayborne Carson and Dr. Clarence Jones, November 7, 2015, Allen Temple Baptist Church
  • Bobby Seale, February 27, 2016, Merritt College
  • Congresswoman Terri Sewell, May 14, 2016, Allen Temple Baptists Church
  • Bob Moses, February 25, 2017, First Presbyterian Church
  • Congressman James Clyburn, February 1, 2018, Merritt College
  • Anita Hill, March 10, 2018, Oakland Marriott
  • Danny Glover, May 3, 2018, Cathedral of Christ the Light

*To purchase or access videos of all past lectures, please contact our offices at 510-434-3988.