Lenoir-Rhyne to host 4th annual MLK Jr. Day Prayer Breakfast and Celebration Jan. 19

Lenoir-Rhyne University’s Office of Multicultural Affairs will sponsor and host the university’s fourth annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day Prayer Breakfast and Celebration on Monday, Jan. 19, 2026, beginning at 7 a.m. in the Cromer Center on the Hickory campus. The breakfast and all accompanying events are free and open to the public. A breakfast ticket will be required for non-meal plan attendees and may be picked up in the Cromer Center lobby.

Breakfast will be served from 7 to 8:30 a.m. in the Cromer Center dining hall and will feature a live musical performance by Aquarius Moon and Friendz.

Following breakfast, the MLK Celebration program will take place from 8:45 to 10 a.m. in P.E. Monroe Auditorium and will feature The Road to Freedom, a special production by the Lenoir-Rhyne A Cappella Choir led by Ryan Luhrs, Ph.D. The performance offers a dramatic retelling of the 1961 Freedom Rides through narration, freedom songs and choral selections.

The production connects to the choir’s upcoming March 2026 tour, during which students will travel from Washington, D.C., to Jackson, Mississippi, retracing the historic route of the Freedom Riders. At each stop, the choir will collaborate with local ensembles and historically Black colleges and universities in performances that honor the legacy of the civil rights movement and highlight the power of communal singing as a tool for change.

At 11 a.m., the annual Unity March, led by the Hickory Branch NAACP Youth Council, will begin. The march will start at Shuford Arena on Lenoir-Rhyne’s campus and conclude at Ridgeview Recreation Center in Hickory. All are invited to participate.

Public parking is available on campus near the Shuford Arena and Moretz Stadium complex and by Grace Chapel. A full campus map is available online.