Sunday, January 18, 2026

Area’s Longest-Running King Day Celebration Returns Monday With Message of Renewal

Pasadena MLK Community Coalition founders Drs. David and Jackie Jacobs met Dr. King when they were college sweethearts and attended Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama (seen behind them). [Courtesy image of the Drs. Jacobs. Church image by Michael Barera. Used under Creative Commons license]

Martin Luther King Jr. Community Coalition president who lost home in the Eaton Fire drew on King’s example to continue organizing

Dr. Jackie Jacobs has moved four times since the Eaton Fire reduced her home to ashes one year ago. Undeterred by adversity, holding dear her personal memories of having met Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and staying true to King’s teaching of staying strong and resolute, Jacobs organized Monday’s local King’s Day celebration in spite of her personal challenges.

The Coalition, which Jacobs founded in the 1980’s with her husband, David, will present the event at John Muir High School, continuing a tradition that has stretched more than three decades in this city.

The event is free, begins with a Teach-In at 8:30 a.m., and features a main program at 10 a.m. State Senator Sasha Renée Pérez, the youngest member of the California State Senate, will deliver the keynote address.

The 2026 theme—”Resilience and Renewal: Social Justice, Equality, and Community Empowerment”—reflects current local realities.

“We thought that it was appropriate because of what is happening,” Jacobs told Pasadena Now. “Resilience has to be in effect… We know there’s got to be renewal.”

Jacobs co- founded the Coalition in the mid-1980s, shortly after MLK Day became a federal holiday.

Decades earlier, as college students at Alabama State University, she and her husband attended King’s church in Montgomery, Alabama, and witnessed the aftermath of the January 30, 1956 bombing attack on King’s home.

“Raised in Alabama during times of discrimination and segregation and attending King’s church in Montgomery as a college student, his message of civil rights and justice left a profound impression on me,” Jacobs said.

When the Eaton Fire destroyed her home last January, Jacobs said she thought of King’s response to the bombing of his own house. King told the angry crowd gathered outside to go home, that the fight must be won through nonviolence, and persevered in his campaign for justice.

“Suppose King had stopped when [his house was bombed], and his life was on the block,” Jacobs said. “If he had stopped, we wouldn’t be able to be where we are now.”

King himself visited Pasadena three times during the Civil Rights Movement.

Monday’s celebration takes place at John Muir High School, a venue with its own civil rights legacy. Built in 1926, the school counts among its alumni hometown heroes Jackie Robinson, his brother Mack Robinson, and science fiction author Octavia Butler.

The King Day Celebration includes a student essay contest with awards for elementary, middle, and high school students. Private schools, including Polytechnic School, have expanded their participation this year.

Jacobs, now living in Arcadia near the racetrack after four moves since the fire, said the work continues because the dream has not yet become reality.

“That’s what King was about.”

The Pasadena Martin Luther King Jr. Community Coalition Annual Celebration takes place Monday, January 20. The Teach-In begins at 8:30 a.m., with the main program at 10 a.m. Admission is free. The event is held at John Muir High School Auditorium, 1905 Lincoln Ave., Pasadena. Parking is available on campus. For more, call (626) 794-9031 or visit www.PasadenaMLK.org.