Wilson College will be recognizing Martin Luther King Jr. Day with a program that includes a presentation on "Audacious Faith in the Future" by Zyahna Bryant, a performance of "Lift Every Voice and Sing", remarks from President Wes Fugate, and a Q&A with the speaker. 

The event is free and open to the public. A livestream of the event will be available. 

Zyahna Bryant - is an Echols scholar at the University of Virginia, studying political and social
thought.. She is a young changemaker and award-winning activist/organizer, content creator, and
social impact strategist. Zyahna is also the architect of Black Women Built This, a strategy and
storytelling brand. In the Spring of 2016, Zyahna wrote a petition calling for the removal of
Confederate statues from Charlottesville’s parks, and they were removed in July 2021.

In 2019, Zyahna was appointed as the youngest member of Virginia’s African American Advisory
Board, where she serves as the co-chair of the education subcommittee. Governor Northam on
issues that impact African Americans across the commonwealth. In 2020, she joined Facebook’s We
The Culture Creator Program, where she uses her platform to create and produce content focused
on civic engagement and social justice issues. She also serves as a member of the Shawn Mendes
Foundation’s Youth Advisory Board. She was named as a 2020 Root Young Futurist, a member of
the 2020 BET 100, and Teen Vogue’s 21 under 21 class of 2019.

Zyahna has been featured in The New York Times, National Geographic, The New Yorker Magazine,
Forbes; and featured on Vice News, PBS, CNN, and BET. In 2018, she was awarded the Princeton
Prize in Race Relations and the Bassett Award for Community Engagement from Yale University.
Zyahna has served as a Student School Board Representative for the Charlottesville City Schools
division and is a passionate advocate for educational equity.