LEWISTON – Civil rights activist and historian Cleveland Sellers will be the keynote speaker for Martin Luther King Jr. Day observances at Bates College.

Classes are canceled and special programming is scheduled throughout the day with an emphasis on the theme “Between Chaos and Community.”

Sellers will speak at 10:45 a.m. Monday in the Bates College Chapel. His address is part of a celebration of King’s life and work that includes performances, art exhibitions, workshops and orations. All events are open to the public and free of charge.

Sellers, the director of the African American studies program at the University of North Carolina, will give the keynote address, “Where Do We Go From Here: A Call to Consciousness!”

The King Day observance will begin on the eve of the holiday, at 7 p.m. Sunday with a memorial service of worship in the chapel on College Street. The service will include musical performances by the Boston-based Aardvark Jazz Orchestra and Bates students.

A panel discussion about antiracist activism will kick off King Day itself, when students and faculty gather at 9:30 a.m. in Chase Hall Lounge, 56 Campus Ave.

A Multicultural Center-sponsored art exhibition, “In Memory of Those Upon Whose Shoulders We Stand: Civil Rights Warriors Who Have Passed the Torch Since January 2006” will be on display in Chase Hall Gallery through Jan. 19.

The King Day observance will conclude with a performance in the Olin Arts Center Concert Hall at 7:30 p.m. A Morehouse College orator will be followed by Boston’s Foundation Movement, a hip-hop trio recognized for its music and commitment to community. Their performance is appropriate for all ages.

The college also co-sponsors an annual MLK Day Read-In where faculty, staff, students and members of the community will share a picture book with Martel School students in grades 4-6 at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 16. Those interested in volunteering should e-mail Eugene Kim at ekim@bates.edu or call 207-786-8273.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day at Bates College

Sunday

7 p.m., Bates College Chapel, annual Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Service of Worship, with the Rev. Ruby Sales, a veteran of the civil rights campaign of the 1960s, who delivers the evening’s sermon. Music by the Boston-based Aardvark Jazz Orchestra and Bates students. A reception follows in the Multicultural Center.

Monday

9:30 a.m., Chase Hall Lounge, student and faculty panelists discuss antiracist activism, their experiences as antiracists and the need for increased visibility and involvement of antiracist allies at Bates.

10:45 a.m., Bates College Chapel, keynote address: “Where Do We Go From Here: A Call to Consciousness!” by civil rights activist and historian Cleveland Sellers, author of “The River of No Return: The Autobiography of a Black Militant and the Life and Death of SNCC” and chairman of the Department of African American Studies, the University of North Carolina.

1:15 to 2:35 p.m. and 2:55 to 4:25 p.m., Pettengill Hall classrooms, students, staff, guests and faculty lead readings, presentations and discussions focused on various topics tied to the day’s theme, “Between Chaos and Community.” Topics range from the lessons to be learned today from King’s reflections on the war in Vietnam to the experience of Somali refugee families, from King’s love ethic to the realities of educational inequality. For more information about the workshops, call 207-786-8296 or see a complete listing on the Bates Web site, www.bates.edu.

4:30 to 5:30 p.m., Pettengill (Keck Classroom, G52), Martin Luther King Jr. Book Club Discussion: Author Cleveland Sellers leads a discussion of his book, “The River of No Return: The Autobiography of a Black Militant and the Life and Death of SNCC.”

7:30 p.m., Olin Arts Center Concert Hall, hip-hop by Boston’s Foundation Movement, a trio recognized for its music and commitment to community. The evening includes a presentation by a Morehouse College orator.

Jan. 15-19, Chase Hall Gallery, art exhibition: In Memory of Those Upon Whose Shoulders We Stand: Civil Rights Warriors Who Have Passed the Torch Since 2006, sponsored by the Multicultural Center.

Tuesday

1:30 p.m., faculty, staff, students and members of the community will share a picture book with Martel School students in grades 4-6. Those interested in volunteering should e-mail Eugene Kim at ekim@bates.edu or call 207-786-8273.

To download jpgs suitable for reproduction, please see the following URLs:

The Rev. Ruby Sales: http://abacus.bates.edu/pix/RevRubySales.jpg

Cleveland Sellers: http://abacus.bates.edu/pix/ClevelandSellersPrint.jpg

Foundation Movement: http://abacus.bates.edu/pix/Foundation%20MovementPrint.jpg