Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Lecture at Harvard
The 2024 Honoree
Sherrilyn Ifill
Sherrilyn Ifill is the President and Director-Counsel Emeritus of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund (LDF)—the second woman to ever lead LDF—who litigated urgent civil rights issues including voter suppression, equal access to education, and racial discrimination in the criminal justice system. She is launching the 14th Amendment Center for Law & Democracy at the Howard University School of Law in 2024.
The 2023 Honoree
Loretta E. Lynch
Loretta Lynch served as U.S. attorney general from 2015 through 2017—only the second woman, and the first Black woman to hold that office. She is now a partner at Paul, Weiss and has been named one of Benchmark Litigation’s “Top 250 Women in Litigation.”
The 2022 honoree
Freeman A. Hrabowski III
The lecture’s first honoree, Freeman A. Hrabowski III, is celebrated for his leadership in developing a national educational model for students from diverse backgrounds to excel in science, technology, engineering, and math.
The Office for Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging is now accepting nominations. All members of the Harvard community are invited to submit a nominee for the 2026 lecture. Nominees do not need to be a member of the Harvard community; individuals from a range of disciplines and backgrounds are welcome. Nominees should embody the spirit of Martin Luther King Jr.’s vision of civic leadership.