For the week of Jan 12-19, 2026, Lexington launched its first Week of Celebrations for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the 40th anniversary of MLK Day as a federal holiday. The week featured films, storytelling, voting rights panel discussions, youth arts and dance, poetry, service projects and small group conversations connecting Dr. King’s legacy to contemporary issues of democracy, equity and civic responsibility.
As chairperson of the MLK Day of Service, a part of the Lexington Town Celebrations Committee, Sara Sheikh felt a responsibility to expand the annual observance into a full week of programming and learning. “We were blessed to have Jodia Finnagan, Nailah Randall-Bellinger, Melanie Thompson, Stephanie Hsu, and Christina Lin serve on the steering committee to help shape the week of events,” Sheikh said. “This expansion also created an opportunity to deepen our understanding of the purpose behind the acts of service organized each year on MLK Day. As our nation marks 250 years, we must be clear: Black history is not separate from our past — it is American history.”
Highlights included a screening of the documentary I Am MLK Jr., spoken word and storytelling by Poet Laureate Regie Gibson of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and Marlon Carey of the Rhode Island Black Storytellers, a voting rights panel discussion, youth-led artistic performances featuring Legacy Dance Company.
Rounding out the week was the Association of Black Citizens of Lexington’s (ABCL) 4th annual MLK Gospel Concert featuring Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s April 22, 1965 address to both Houses of the General Court of Massachusetts and read by Josephine Lawrence, a 9th grader at Lexington High School. During this address, Dr. King reminds us that the vision of a new nation conceived in liberty was born in Massachusetts. He also responds to the poignant question “Are we really making progress in the area of race relations?” While organized independently of the MLK Day of Service programming, the concert remains a cherished annual tradition in Lexington and a highlight of the broader MLK Week of celebration.
The program includes action ideas for building on the legacy of Boston’s Freedom March.
- Work with the Massachusetts Partnership for Diversity in Education (MPDE) and your school district to recruit, support, and promote Black faculty and staff,
- Take action to improve local voter access with the NAACP Mystic Valley Area Branch,
- Work with the Massachusetts Fair Housing Center to eliminate illegal housing discrimination in Middlesex County,
- Support NAACP Legal Defense Fund’s LDF’s Black Voters on the Rise project,
The celebrations concluded on Martin Luther King Jr. Day at Grace Chapel, featuring performances by SNAP Chorus and RootsUprising Dance Company, Lexington Human Rights Committee’s (LHRC) small-group community conversations on race, the LHRC activator fair connecting people to local advocacy organizations, and donations to local service nonprofits and fundraising for the LHS HBCU tour. Additional service opportunities included a student-led technology assistance program for seniors and a family-friendly food-sorting project at Food Link.
“I am proud that our committee felt called to expand our celebration of this great man into an entire week, allowing us to explore the full scope of Dr. King as a true champion of humanity. We honored his legacy across multiple forms, with a particular focus on Dr. King’s work on voting rights as an ongoing struggle that we collectively felt was important to highlight.” — Nailah Randall-Bellinger
The whole week would not have been possible without the army of supporters and partners who contributed their talents and resources to the programming. Special nod to LexArt, Munroe Center for the Arts and Grace Chapel for going above and beyond with hosting our events. Please visit the donors and contributors page at www.lexingtonmlk.org as they are equally deserving of the credit of this week.