Civil Rights Immersion Series

The 2025 MLK Immersion Series will explore how Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s vision can inspire actionable steps toward justice and equity today. The series will kick off with a luncheon featuring a keynote speaker during MLK Jr.’s birthday week, offering a chance to reflect on Dr. King’s enduring legacy. The experience will culminate in a spring break trip, where participants will engage in immersive learning and discussions to transform vision into meaningful action. Join us as we move beyond the dream and work toward lasting change.  

MLK, JR. Civil Rights Immersion Series: Keynote Speaker and Luncheon featuring Dr. Melissa Bartholomew
Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025
12–1:30 p.m.
Maxwell Hall, Cook Center Grand Hall
750 E. Kirkwood Ave., Bloomington, IN 47405
Seats are limited! RSVP here.

Dr. Melissa Bartholomew's talk will explore the pursuit of justice as a spiritual practice and a way of operationalizing love to advance social change. Utilizing Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s work, A Strength to Love, she will highlight the role of reflection and inner transformation in building King's vision of a Beloved Community.

Melissa Wood Bartholomew (she/her) PhD, JD, MSW, MDiv, is the Associate Dean for Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DIB) and Lecturer on DIB at Harvard Divinity School. She is a Christ-centered minister and a racial justice and healing practitioner with nearly a decade of experience practicing public interest law. Dr. Bartholomew is committed to a multifaith, multidisciplinary, Afrocentric approach to healing justice rooted in the African philosophy of Ubuntu, restorative justice, and love. She teaches restorative justice at Boston College Law School and is sustained through the love of God, her family, and her ancestors. 

This program is sponsored by the CommUNITY Education Program within Residence Life.

MLK, Jr. Immersion Series Trip to Atlanta, Georgia
March 15–19, 2025
Possible site visits include: The King Center, Ebenezer Baptist Church, Georgia Aquarium, and Spelman College. More info to come!

The goal of this trip is to provide undergraduate students with an immersive, educational experience that deepens their understanding of the civil rights movement. This is not a tourism excursion, but an opportunity for participants to engage directly with the places, people, and events that shaped this pivotal era in history while fostering meaningful reflection and learning beyond the classroom.

The application period has closed and participants have already been notified for this year's trip.