Location
The Santa Maria-Lompoc Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), along with collaborating community organizations, presents the 2026 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. CELEBRATION!
Sunday, January 18, 2026 starting at Noon at Allan Hancock College, Boyd Concert Hall & Courtyard, Santa Maria.
TABLING: 12:00-4:00pm
PROGRAM: 2:00-4:00pm
THEME: "The Fierce Urgency of Now"
SPEAKER: the Reverend Dr. Nelson B. Rivers, III. Vice President, Religious Affairs and External Relations, National Action Network Pastor, Charity Missionary Baptist Church, North Charleston, SC
For more information, contact: Lawanda Lyons-Pruitt (805) 488-7869
Sponsored by Santa Maria/Lompoc Branch NAACP, The Fund for Santa Barbara, County of Santa Barbara, Allan Hancock College, Santa Maria-Bonita School District, SMJUHSD, UDW/AFSCME Local 3930, Future Leaders of America, County of Santa Barbara Commission for Women, LWVNSBC.
Martin Luther King, Jr. (MLK) Day, a holiday marking the change-maker's date of birth, was signed into law on Nov. 2, 1983 and first observed on the third Monday of January 1986.
Dr. King led the movement for racial equality from 1955 until his assassination on April 4, 1968, and is widely regarded as America’s pre-eminent advocate of nonviolence and one of the greatest nonviolent leaders in the world. His many orations include “I Have A Dream” speech, Nobel Peace Prize lecture, and “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.” He is the only non-president to have a national holiday dedicated in his honor and to be memorialized on the Great Mall of our nation’s capital, in addition in hundreds of public facilities around the world.
