LEWISTON – A pioneer in African-American women’s history will be the keynote speaker at this year’s 2006 Martin Luther King Jr. Day observances at Bates College.

Professor Sharon Harley, chairwoman of the Department of African-American Studies at the University of Maryland, College Park, will speak at 10:45 a.m. Monday, Jan. 16, in the Bates College Chapel.

Her address is titled “Race Women, Race Man: Imagined and Real Conversations Between Louise Thompson Patterson, Gloria Richardson and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.”

Harley’s address is part of a celebration of King’s life and work that includes performances, workshops and a debate between Bates and Morehouse college students.

Special programming is scheduled throughout the day with an emphasis on the theme “The Noble Road to Peace: Storming the Battlements of Injustice.”

Classes at the college are canceled.

The King Day observance will begin on the eve of the holiday at 7 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 15, with a memorial service of worship in the College Chapel on College Street.

The Rev. William R. Jones, Florida State University professor emeritus, a pathfinder in the field of African-American philosophy, will deliver the sermon, “I Have a Dream: Reflections, Reappraisal and Reconciliation,” followed by musical performances by Bates students.

The Multicultural Center will host an 8:30 p.m. reception with Jones at 75 Franklin St. after the service.

Jones is an internationally recognized scholar in liberation theology, African-American religion, religious humanism and multicultural education.

Best known for his contributions to the theory of oppression and conflict resolution, Jones has written more than 100 articles about oppression, justice, black theology, counter-violence and the role of the church in social change.

The King Day observance will conclude with a Hurricane Katrina fundraiser at 7:30 p.m. in the Olin Arts Center Concert Hall, featuring the New Orleans-based tenor Chauncey Packer, a rising young opera star who is a Ph.D. candidate at Louisiana State University. Packer will offer a concert of African-American sacred music, with narratives of Katrina survivors read by Bates students.