Temple Emanuel has hosted Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Shabbats since 1987. Here are some details of past programs and speakers.
2024 Dee Sanae, Founder Mosaic Visions. Readings for 2024 service can be found here.
2023 Gloria M. Shepherd, Executive Director of the Federal Highway Administration (Celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., at Temple Emanuel and Showing One Way That His Vision Is Being Realized by Governmental and Community Action)
2022 Sunil Dasgupta, Director of the Political Science Program for the University of Maryland/Baltimore County at the Universities at Shady Grove (The Relevance of Dr. King to the “Critical Race Theory” Controversy)
2021 Yolanda Savage-Narva, Director of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Programs for the Union of Reform Judaism (Striving to Create Dr. King’s Beloved Community: Reform Judaism’s Quest for Racial Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion)
2020 Toni Holness, Public Policy Director, Maryland ACLU (Making the Dream Real: Disparities in the Criminal Justice System)
2019 Brenda Wolff, Montgomery County Board of Education (Making the Dream Real: Challenges in Public Education in Montgomery County)
2018 Ike Leggett, Montgomery County Executive (Implementing Dr. King’s Vision: What We Have Done in Montgomery County, and What We Need To Do in the Future)
2017 Will Saletan, Slate and Temple Member (Facing Implicit Bias)
2016 Noah Roos and Micah Guthrie, Operation Understanding
2015 Rev. Carl Davis, Ken-Gar Baptist Church
2014 David Fishback (King, Gandhi, Mandela: Giants of the 20th Century, Beacons for the 21st)
2013 Jonathan Jayes-Green (speaking in the context of the Maryland Dream Act and the Maryland Civil Marriage Equality Act)
2012 David Fishback (What Would Dr. King Occupy?)
2011 Solange Hansen (African-American recent convert to Judaism)
2010 Delegate Al Carr (Al represents the District 16 (which includes the Temple) in the General Assembly; he is a descendent of the slave-line of the Thomas Jefferson family)
2009 Bridget Bailey Lipscomb (The Joshua Generation in the Promised Land)
2008 Temple Emanuel Teen Choir
2007 Patricia Corbett (then-Deputy Executive Director of Metro DC PFLAG)
2006 Delegate Herman Taylor (then-representative from District 14 (Olney/Sandy Spring/Ashton/Damascus/Burtonsville) in the General Assembly
2005 David Fishback (Theology, Morality & Faith: A Legacy of Dr. King)
2004 Ike Leggett (then a member of the Montgomery County Council, later County Executive)
2003 KESTY (Kensington Temple Emanuel Youth Group)
2002 Rabbi Stone, Rev. Carl Davis, Iman Faisal Khan (this service was in the aftermath of 9/11)
2001 LaRae Jackson (Baltimore VISTA Volunteer)
2000 Steve Silverman (then-member of the Montgomery County Council)
1999 David Fishback (Dr. King and the Second American Revolution)
1998 Fair Haven United Methodist Church Choir and Dr. William A. Phillips (1997 Nobel Prize Winner in Physics and longtime member of Fair Haven)
1997 Operation Understanding Executive Director
1996 Richard Montgomery High School Gospel Choir
1995, 1994, 1993 No featured speakers
1992 David Fishback (King: Lessons for the Closing Decade of the Century)
1990 Shirley Small Rougeau, Civil Rights Activist
1989 Rev. Alfred Moser
1988 Charles Morgan, Civil Rights Attorney
1987 Phineas Indritz, Civil Rights Lawyer and Temple Member
