1989–1990 Mary Frances Berry, Historian, Law Professor and Civil Rights Authority

1990–1991 David J. Garrow, Professor of Political Science, City College of New York and author of Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conferenc

1991–1992 Judy Richardson, Civil Rights Activist

1992–1993 Juan Williams, author of Eyes on the Prize

1994–1995 Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis, Actors and Civil Rights Activists

1995–1996 Henry Louis Gates, Author (Visit was cancelled due to inclement weather)

1995–1996 Andrew Billingsley, Sociologist, Author and Educator

1996–1997 Gregory H. Williams, Dean of the Ohio State University Law School and author of Life on the Color Line: The True Story of a White Boy Who Discovered He Was Black

1997–1998 Diane Nash, Civil Rights Activist, Co-founder of SNCC (Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee)

1998–1999 Ronald C. Woods, Professor of African American Studies, Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, Class of 1969

1999–2000 Nikki Giovanni, Poet

2000–2001 The Hon. Janet E. Jackson, Class of 1975

2001–2002 The Hon. Charles Stith, Former Ambassador to Tanzania

2002–2003 Julian Bond, NAACP Chair, Civil Rights Activist

2003–2004 Kevin Powell, Political Activist, Writer, Hip-Hop Historian

2004–2005 Robert Graetz, Civil Rights Advocate at the Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955)

2005–2006 Charlayne Hunter-Gault, Journalist, presented with support from the endowment for the William A. Kinnison Endowed Lecture in History

2006-2007 "Dr. King for the 21st Century" Michael Eric Dyson, Scholar and Best-Selling Author