Dr. Marcus Bruce, professor of religious studies at Bates College, is the keynote speaker for the 21st annual celebration in honor of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The event is slated for Monday, Jan. 15, 10 a.m. at First Parish Unitarian Universalist Church in Kennebunk.  His presentation, titled “So Great a Cloud of Witnesses,” focuses on the legacy of the Montgomery Bus Boycott — he speaks from experience since he spent part of his youth in Montgomery, Alabama.

Bruce is the Charles A. Dana Professor of Religious Studies at Bates College in Lewiston, where he specializes in American religious history, African-American studies, and American cultural studies. He received his Ph.D. in American studies from Yale University, master’s of divinity from Yale Divinity School, and graduated from Bates in 1977. He is also an alumni fellow at the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute at Harvard University and a former fellow of the Reid Hall Institute for Scholars in Paris, France.

According to a news release, Bruce has written and published his research on African Americans, their religion, and their culture. His work, “Henry Ossawa Tanner: A Spiritual Biography,” is included in the permanent collection of the White House. A passion is discovering and writing about the history of Americans found in the archives of France. He is currently writing a book on African Americans in Paris. Bruce’s family is spread throughout the United States and Europe, but he especially loves the solitude and beauty of Maine.

People attending the MLK celebration will be greeted with guitar music by Elsa Liberatore of Kennebunk High School. Ambrose Maynes and Elliot Barron, also from KHS, will begin the program with jazz tunes by Charles Mingus, Miles Davis, and John Lewis.

The celebration will continue with a reception, sponsored by Hannaford Super Store, in the Parish Hall.

The suggested donation is $15 per adult, free for students. No registration is necessary.

The event is sponsored by the Social Justice Network of First Parish and the community group, Many Towns, One Circle. The mission of Many Towns One Circle, according to the news release, “is to identify racial bias in ourselves, challenge racial injustice, and work together to build a more inclusive community. The event will benefit the Alpha Legal Foundation, whose mission is to increase the number of underrepresented attorneys in Maine’s top positions of legal leadership and scholarship.”

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