Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Join Bristol Community College for its 26th annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Breakfast on Monday, January 19, 2026, at 8:30 a.m. The event is free and open to all. 

The breakfast will be held in the Commonwealth College Center (G building) on the Bristol Fall River Campus and will include a breakfast buffet, a keynote address and resource tables hosted by community organizations. 

The event will feature the unveiling of a portrait of Captain Thomas J. Hudner, Jr., a Fall River native and Medal of Honor recipient who, during the Korean War, risked his life attempting to save his fellow squadron mate and wingman, Ensign Jesse L. Brown, the first African American to complete Navy flight training. The portrait, created by artist Brian Fox and donated by Paul Burke, will be permanently displayed at the college as a symbol to justice, character and community.

Register for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Breakfast

Keynote Speaker

The keynote address will be delivered by Dr. Sean Edmund Rogers, Dean of the University of Rhode Island (URI) College of Business.

Dr. Sean Edmund Rogers is Dean of the URI College of Business, the Alfred J. Verrecchia-Hasbro Inc. Leadership Chair and Professor of Management. Previously, he served as URI's Vice President of Community, Equity, and Diversity. Before joining URI, he held faculty appointments at Cornell University, New Mexico State University and the University of New Mexico, and prior to that worked in finance and industrial engineering at several Fortune 500 firms. Dr. Rogers is a U.S. Army combat veteran and currently serves as a healthcare administration officer in the Air Force Reserve. An expert in human resource management and leadership, he has authored more than 30 scholarly articles and two books, delivered more than 80 keynote addresses and workshops, and regularly provides consulting to business executives and nonprofit organizations. Dr. Rogers earned his Ph.D. from Rutgers University and has degrees from Brown University, Wake Forest University, University of Illinois and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. He is a Life Member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity and a member of Martin Luther King Jr. Lodge Number 29, Prince Hall Free and Accepted Masons, in Arizona.

Support Bristol Students

Guests are encouraged to bring donated nonperishable, self-stable food items to the community breakfast that will be collected for Bristol's Office for Basic Needs Support, which connects students with basic needs support and community resources.   

Resource Tables

Community Partner Tables

• Samaritans Southcoast – information on 988 and other resources for suicide loss survivors. Children's activity: Coloring and No-Bully pledge  
• Foster MA, The Massachusetts Department of Children & Families  
• Rotary Club – Children's activity: Peace Projects
• MA SANE Program
• Fall River YMCA  – membership and program information, community resources and free promotional items. 
• Bristol Black Collective – information on programs, youth literacy initiatives, community events and volunteer opportunities. Children's activity: craft or interactive activity highlighting Black history.
• The League of Women Voters
• Office of the Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell – resource materials on different divisions and how to contact the AGO.
• YMCA Southcoast-Conservation Law Foundation’s Healthy Neighborhoods Study – Information about community-based environmental justice work and ongoing Healthy Neighborhoods initiatives. 

Bristol Affiliated Tables

• Bristol PTK Chapter
• Basic Needs Center
• Multicultural Student Center