Bakari Sellers named 2018 annual MLK Celebration speaker

January 2, 2018

Civil rights activist, attorney and political commentator Bakari Sellers has been named the Georgia Southern University annual MLK Celebration speaker and will present on Wednesday, Jan. 24, at 7 p.m. in the Performing Arts Center at 847 Plant Drive in Statesboro. The live presentation will be simulcast at the Georgia Southern Armstrong Campus in Savannah.

April 2018 will mark 50 years since King’s assassination, and as such, will be an important theme in Sellers’s presentation. Sellers will present on activism in reflection of King’s legacy.

Sellers made history in 2006 when, at the age of 22, he defeated a 26-year incumbent state representative in South Carolina. His win made him the youngest member of the state’s legislature and the youngest African-American elected official in the entire nation.

He won the 2014 Democratic nomination for Lt. Governor in South Carolina, and served on former President Barack Obama’s South Carolina steering committee during the 2008 election. Sellers has received numerous accolades including being named TIME Magazine’s “40 Under 40” in 2010 and being ranked in “The Root 100” list of the nation’s most influential African-Americans in 2014.

Sellers has served as a featured speaker at events for the National Education Association, College Democrats of America National Convention, NAACP, the 2008 Democratic National Convention, and he delivered the opening keynote address to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee Policy Conference in Washington, D.C., in 2007.

Sellers practices law with the Strom Law Firm LLC in Columbia, South Carolina, and is a CNN contributor. He is married to Ellen Rucker.

Each year, Georgia Southern’s MLK Celebration provides an opportunity for the campus and community to gather and celebrate the life and legacy of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

The presentation will be simulcast live at the Ogeechee Theater on the Armstrong Campus. Free transportation to the Georgia Southern Statesboro Campus will be provided for students on the Armstrong Campus. Contact Lucera Aradillas in the Office of Multicultural Affairs at lucero.aradillas@armstrong.edu to register for transportation.

The MLK Celebration Speaker is sponsored annually by the Office of the Vice President of Enrollment, Office of Vice President of Student Affairs, and the Office of Multicultural Affairs.  For more information on the MLK Celebration, visit GeorgiaSouthern.edu/msc/mlk.

Georgia Southern University, a public Carnegie Doctoral/Research institution founded in 1906, offers 142 degree programs serving more than 27,000 students through nine colleges on three campuses in Savannah, Statesboro, Hinesville and online instruction. A leader in higher education in southeast Georgia, the University provides a diverse student population with expert faculty, world-class scholarship and hands-on learning opportunities. Georgia Southern creates lifelong learners who serve as responsible scholars, leaders and stewards in their communities. Visit GeorgiaSouthern.edu.