Freedom Center announces King Legacy Celebration keynote
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 25, 2024
MEDIA CONTACT: Cody Hefner (513) 608-5777, chefner@nurfc.org
Freedom Center welcomes Wendy Ellis, DrPH, as 2025 King Legacy Celebration keynote
Annual celebration of Dr. King's legacy calls a new generation forward to dismantle systemic inequity; presented by Kroger
CINCINNATI – The National Underground Railroad Freedom Centerannounced equity innovator, researcher and documentarian Wendy Ellis, DrPH, as keynote for its 20th annual 2025 King Legacy Celebration, presented by Kroger. The annual celebration of the life and leadership of civil rights icon Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. will feature a solution-oriented, future-focused call to action and live performances. The 2025 King Legacy Celebration is Monday, January 20, 2025, at 8:30 a.m. at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. Tickets are available now.
Dr. Ellis is the inaugural director of the Institute for Racial, Ethnic and Socioeconomic Equity and the founding director of the Center for Community Resilience at George Washington University. In this role, she shapes infrastructure to support impactful research dedicated to eradicating racial, ethnic and socioeconomic inequity. In less than 20 years, she has inspired a global “resilience movement” by developing tools, frameworks and research methods to address systemic inequities that contribute to social and health disparities. Her Building Community Resilience (BCR) collaborative and Resilience Catalysts networks provide platforms for cross-sector partners to align resources, programs and initiatives with community-based efforts to address adverse childhood experiences and adverse community environments. This strengths-based approach aims to build the infrastructure to disrupt cycles of structural racism, foster equity and promote resilience in communities.
In 2022, Dr. Ellis produced the documentary America’s Truth: Cincinnati, which explores how structural racism produced inequitable outcomes in four Black neighborhoods in Cincinnati – Avondale, the West End, Lincoln Heights and Kennedy Heights. Documenting nearly 200 years of housing, education and public safety policy that continues to produce adversity for Black Cincinnatians today, these stories recount a long history of unjust policies intentionally designed to drive inequitable outcomes by race and place. The film follows her team’s innovative approach to center the conversation on structural racism and galvanize a resilience movement to foster equity through systems and policy change. In 2024, Dr. Ellis was awarded the Vincent J. Filetti Distinguished Scholar Award for her visionary leadership to foster community resilience to prevent childhood adversity.
“Dr. King and his colleagues knew racial injustice in this country was not by accident; it was by design,” said Woodrow Keown, Jr., president and COO of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. “And though they lacked the data and the technology to eradicate them at their root, they carried the torch for people like Dr. Ellis and a new generation to expose these systems undeniably. These leaders will now leverage resources to dismantle these structures of injustice. They simply need to take the torch.”
Following Dr. Ellis’s keynote, the Freedom Center will host a day of free admission and an afternoon program with Dr. Ellis, as well as engagement opportunities for individuals to walk away with actionable ways to address inequities in their communities.
The King Legacy Celebration will include a continental breakfast and an opportunity for fellowship before the program begins. Doors open at 8 a.m. with performances and the keynote presentation at 8:30 a.m.
Tickets for the King Legacy Celebration are $50 for the in-person program and $25 for livestream access. Discounted tickets are available for Freedom Center Members at $40 for the in-person program and $20 for livestream access. Tickets are available at freedomcenter.org/klc25.
