On Thursday, April 3, Vanderbilt University will commemorate the 40th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s death with "We Speak for Ourselves: A Poet, a Prophet and Voices for the 21st Century," a press release said.

The two-day conference, which will be presented by the Robert Penn Warren Center for Humanities, will begin Thursday at 7 p.m. at the Bishop Joseph Johnson Black Cultural Center with the viewing of the documentary "Faubourg Treme: The Untold Story of Black New Orleans" and a discussion of the film with its maker, Lolis Eric Elie.

Many other scholar activists will be participating in event, including Angela Davis, the Rev. James Lawson and Houston Baker.

The conference will examine the many issues raised in alumnus Robert Penn Warren's book "Who Speaks For the Negro?" through panels and presentations.

"This extraordinary gathering of minds will continue the much-needed conversation on justice and community, to which Warren the poet and writer lent his voice and to which King the prophet gave his life," Mona Frederick, executive director of the Robert Penn Warren Center, told Vanderbilt News Service. "We feel confident that the time is right to begin this much-needed national conversation."

The event is free and open to the public.

For a full schedule, visit www.vanderbilt.edu/rpw_center