History

The Gandhi-King Conference on Peacemaking began its journey in 2004 as the Annual Gandhian Conference on Nonviolence, a collaboration of the M.K. Gandhi Institute, the National Civil Rights Museum, NCCJ Memphis and a coalition of almost a dozen other grassroots organizations. In its five years of existence, this annual conference on nonviolence, held in Memphis, TN, has educated and trained thousands of peacemakers from all over the country.

In 2007 the Conference changed its name to the current Gandhi-King Conference on Peacemaking. This change was meant to reflect the natural growth of the conference, as well as to welcome new primary presenters—the Mid-South Peace and Justice Center, the HEAL Foundation, the Indian Community Fund, and BRIDGES PeaceJam. Throughout our first five years, we have welcomed noted academics, activists and community leaders to provide insight on our work.

Past plenary and keynote speakers include, but are not limited to, Arun Gandhi, Kathy Kelly, Rev. Jim Lawson, Rev. Dr. Luther Ivory, Ken Butigan, Amy Goodman, Michael Nagler, Rosa Clemente, Rev. Lennox Yearwood, Naomi Tutu, Fr. Simon Harak and Fr. Roy Bourgouise. 

In 2007 the conference also established a Youth Component, welcoming students from local high schools to experience a program of speakers and workshops specifically suited to their needs. In our first two years, we served over 1,600 local youth through the youth conference.