Events

Annual Hayward Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Birthday Celebration event returns Jan. 15

December 12, 2023

Hayward will pay tribute to the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with a program of music and song, a community-award recognition, and a keynote address by musical educator Professor Silvester Henderson starting at 4:30 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 15, 2024. 

The annual Hayward celebration of the great social justice and civil rights leader takes place each January on the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. national holiday—and is sponsored by the Hayward South Alameda County NAACP, Chabot College, the City of Hayward and Hayward Unified School District. 

Event keynote speaker Professor Henderson is a nationally recognized professor, educator, conference motivational speaker, business owner, real estate investor, community artistic organizer, musician and artist, conductor and internet blog personality.  In 1985, he founded the University of California, Berkeley, Young Inspirational Gospel Choir, which sang to large crowds at venues such as Zellerbach Hall, toured internationally, recorded albums, and came to be named “the finest university gospel choir in the nation” by the Smithsonian Institution. 

In addition to Professor Henderson’s keynote address, there will be performances by Palma Ceia Baptist Church Singers, the Hayward High School Jazz Band and the Chabot College Choir. 

For more information on the Hayward Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Birthday Celebration, which is taking place at the Reed L. Buffington Visual & Performing Arts Center on the Chabot College campus, go online here to the City of Hayward website.