This year’s Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Civil Rights Lecture at Hope College will feature a speaker best described as a servant leader who uses education and advocacy to ameliorate social inequity. John M. Williams, who is president and CEO of Akron Urban League, will feature the theme “A Woke Messiah: Jesus Died to Defend Democracy, Demand Diversity and Defeat Poverty” on Wednesday, Jan 15, at 6 p.m. in Dimnent Memorial Chapel.
The public is invited. Admission is free.
The lecture presentation will reflect Jesus as a civil rights icon by exploring the theological and social dimensions of Jesus’ mission through the lens of Tzedek — a Hebrew term that appears more than 150 times in ancient Hebraic texts, translated into English as “righteousness” or “justice.” By focusing on Jesus’ defense of the marginalized; his call for societal inclusion; his challenge for system change, such as poverty and oppression; and the whitewash of Christianity, the presentation draws parallels between his teachings and modern civil rights movements. It highlights how Jesus’ pursuit of Tzedek aligns with the ongoing fight for democracy, diversity, and economic justice and the struggle for civil rights.
Williams graduated from Morehouse College, earning a B.A. in business administration with a concentration in banking and finance. His corporate career includes serving as president and CEO of the Akron Urban League; Habitat for Humanity of Michigan; interim executive director with Summit Education Initiative; deputy executive director and chief operating officer with Alpha Phi Alpha Homes; Ford Motor Company; and 20 years with Nissan North America. During his time at Nissan, he created Nissan North America’s Minority Dealer Development Initiative, which significantly increased minority dealer representation.
He is a highly regarded local, regional and national community leader with a wealth of experience in board development, parliamentary procedure and protocol, organizational development, and strategic planning and system change. His expertise extends to organizational transformation, fiscal management and plan implementation. He has a proven track record in preparing organization governance documents and is well-versed in corporate and Christian leadership, education and ecumenical organizational structures. Though his leadership roles include serving on boards, he is often found serving the community’s youth, reading to kindergartners, registering voters and training teenagers to become community leaders.
Williams is an executive producer of the Emmy Award-winning documentary “An Answer From Akron,” a PBS documentary on the history of Alpha Phi Alpha Homes Inc. He has served on many boards, including board chair, Fair Lending Services; board member, Affiliate Mortgage Services; former president, Akron Summit Community Redevelopment Coalition; former board chair, Akron-Canton Airport Board; graduate and former board secretary of Leadership Akron and former chair of the Steering Committee for Diversity on Board; former board chair, County of Summit Alcohol, Drug Addiction & Mental Health (ADM) Board; former president, Akron Roundtable; former board vice-chair, Summit Education Initiative (SEI); secretary, Western Reserve Community Fund; and former board member of Ronald McDonald House of Northeast Ohio. Williams recently completed B-Direct’s first cohort — a training program designed to train and place U.S. executives on corporate boards on the African Continent.
The 2025 Civil Rights Lecture is sponsored by the college’s Center for Diversity and Inclusion, the Cultural Affairs Committee, Culture and Inclusive Excellence, multicultural student organizations and GROW Collaboration, and will be taking place as part of the college’s annual Civil Rights Celebration week. The week honors all persons and groups who have worked toward the advancement of civil rights and social justice, and is organized in conjunction with the national commemoration of the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
To inquire about accessibility or if you need accommodations to fully participate in the event, please email accommodations@hope.edu. Updates related to events are posted when available at hope.edu/calendar in the individual listings.
Dimnent Memorial Chapel is located at 277 College Ave., at the corner of College Avenue and 12th Street.