Mon., Jan. 17 is Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Today, we’re remembering his presence in Kansas City + offering a few ways you can honor his life and legacy.

Connections to KC

Dr. King visited the metro at least six different times in documented trips from 1957-1968:

~750 people listened to MLK speak at St. Stephen Baptist Church following his cover on Time magazine.
The following year in 1958, he spoke at Sumner High School in KCK. This was six months prior to a department store boycott organized by KC area civil rights activists in protest of segregation policies.
In March 1961, Dr. King visited again to speak to 400 people at a “Temple Brotherhood” dinner at Congregation B’nai Jehudah — specifically about non-violent resistance.
Another visit in September that year brought him to an annual convention of the National Baptist Convention, U.S.A. Inc. There isn’t much record of Dr. King speaking.
About a year later, Martin Luther King Jr. returned to the Kansas City Municipal Auditorium to speak at the annual Festival of Faith, which was a service observing the Protestant Reformation.
King’s last visit to the metro was Jan. 18, 1968 at Kansas State University, where he voiced his opposition to the Vietnam War.

Honoring