Black Lives Matter Co-founders Headline MLK Lecture in Social Justice at Penn

WHO:             Patrisse Cullors and Opal Tometi are two of the three co-founders of the Black Lives Matter movement.

                        Camille Charles is the Edmund J. and Louise W. Kahn Term Professor in Social Sciences; professor of sociology, Africana studies and education; and the director of the Center for Africana Studies in the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Arts & Sciences.

WHAT:           15th Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Lecture in Social Justice at the University of Pennsylvania        

WHEN:           5:30 p.m., Thursday, Jan. 21

WHERE:         Zellerbach Theater, Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, 3680 Walnut St.

Social activists Patrisse Cullors and Opal Tometi will discuss their work in the Black Lives Matter organization and how social media catapulted #BlackLivesMatter into a global movement.

In addition to co-creating the viral Twitter hashtag and movement, Cullors is the founder of Dignity and Power Now. She is also the Truth and Reinvestment Campaign director for the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights.

Tometi is active in fighting for immigrant rights as the executive director of the Black Alliance for Just Immigration.

The event, which is free and open to the public, is part of Penn’s 21st Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Symposium for Social Change and is sponsored by Penn’s Center for Africana Studies, Annenberg School for Communication and Office of the President.

EDITOR’S NOTE: VIDEO RECORDING BY MEDIA IS PROHIBITED. FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY BY PRINT MEDIA IS PERMITTED ONLY DURING THE FIRST FIVE MINUTES OF THE PROGRAM.