Rob Little ’12 takes a behind-the-scenes look at the recent Sankofa production of “A Journey of Our Own,” a cross-cultural exploration of blackness within African diasporic experiences through performative arts such as dance, music, theater and spoken word. The production was part of the 2012 Martin Luther King Jr. observance at Bates.

Sankofa performs during Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2011.

The theme for 2012 King Day programming at Bates is Environmental Justice: Martin Luther King’s Unfinished Agenda. Here’s a schedule, updated Jan. 12, of events related to the observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Jan. 16, 2012. A breakdown of the afternoon workshops appears here. For more information, please call 207-786-6400:

red, black & GREEN: a blues: Performer-activist-educator Marc Bamuthi Joseph presents a staged reading of his multimedia performance piece.
7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 13, Olin Concert Hall, 75 Russell St.

The Greenhorns: A film detailing the spirit, practices and challenges of America’s young farming community (2010; 40 min.). Presented by the Bates Environmental Film Festival.
4 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 14, Chase Lounge, 56 Campus Ave.

Gasland: Director Josh Fox screens his film revealing the environmental damage caused by the natural gas mining practice called “fracking” (2010; 107 min.). Presented by the Bates Environmental Film Festival.
3 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 15, Olin Concert Hall, 75 Russell St.

Julian Agyeman, a pioneering environmental justice and sustainability advocate, offers the homily for the college’s annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day Memorial Service of Worship.
7 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 15, College Chapel, 275 College St. FMI 207-786-8272.

The following all take place Monday, Jan. 16, 2012:

Julian Agyeman delivers The Dream Lives on: Towards a ‘Just’ Sustainability, the keynote address for Martin Luther King Jr. Day observances.
9:30 a.m. College Chapel, 275 College St.

Concurrent breakout sessions explore options for activism following the keynote address.
11 a.m., rooms TBA, Hedge Hall, 7 Andrews Road (Alumni Walk).

Debaters from Morehouse and Bates colleges address the resolution “Environmental sustainability and social equality are incompatible.” Free, but tickets required — follow this link.
1 p.m., Olin Concert Hall, 75 Russell St.

Concurrent workshop sessions explore topics related to the day’s theme.
2:30 & 3:45 p.m., various locations

A Journey of Our Own: A performance by Sankofa, a Bates student group exploring cross-cultural blackness within African diasporic experiences through performative arts like dance, music, theater and spoken word. Free, but tickets required–follow this link.
7:30 p.m., Schaeffer Theatre, 305 College St.

Professor Julian Agyeman. Photograph by Kelvin Ma, Tufts University.

Julian Agyeman, Ph.D., FRSA, a pioneering environmental justice and sustainability advocate, offers the keynote address during Martin Luther King Jr. Day observances at Bates College at 9:30 a.m. Monday, Jan. 16, in the College Chapel, 275 College St.

His keynote address at Bates is titled The Dream Lives on: Towards a ‘Just’ Sustainability.

Martin Luther King Weekend events at Bates also include a spoken-word piece by performer-activist Marc Bamuthi Joseph on Friday, Jan. 13, an environmental film festival during the weekend, and a performance by the Bates student ensemble Sankofa during the evening of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

See the schedule of Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Weekend events.

The theme for 2012 King Day programming at Bates is Environmental Justice: Martin Luther King’s Unfinished Agenda. Events on Jan. 16 include a student debate and workshops that explore the Unfinished Agenda theme during the day, and a performance in the evening by the student ensemble Sankofa. Related events take place Jan. 13-15.

More event information appears below. A complete schedule will be published in January. King Day events at Bates are open to the public at no cost. For more information, please call 207-786-6400.

A college with a bold commitment to equality and social justice rooted in its very founding by abolitionists prior to the Civil War, Bates has long been distinctive in its observances of the King holiday. Regular classes are canceled and the entire campus turns its attention to issues around civil rights, social justice and King’s legacy.

The 2012 King Day events extend an emphasis on environmental justice at Bates during this academic year. For the King Day programming, “we chose this Unfinished Agenda theme because we believe that Dr. King would have been an advocate for environmental justice,” says Charles Nero, chair of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Planning Committee and professor of rhetoric and African American studies.

“The committee has worked really hard for almost a year to put this program together. We are especially happy that the workshops include much interdisciplinary effort.”

Professor and chair of urban and environmental policy and planning at Tufts University, Agyeman is known as the co-originator with Robert D. Bullard and Bob Evans of “just sustainabilities,” a concept espousing the need to ensure a better quality of life for all, now and into the future, in a just and equitable manner, while living within the limits of supporting ecosystems.

More about Julian Agyeman.

Agyeman speaks twice at Bates. In addition to Monday’s keynote, he offers the homily for the college’s annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day Memorial Service of Worship at 7 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 15, in the Bates College Chapel, 275 College St. To learn more about this service, please call 207-786-8272.

Following the keynote, concurrent breakout sessions take place at 11 a.m. in rooms to be announced in Hedge Hall, 7 Andrews Road (Alumni Walk). Concurrent workshop sessions are scheduled for 2:30 and 3:45 p.m. in Pettengill Hall, 4 Andrews Road.

The breakout sessions and workshops have slightly different formats, Nero explains. “The breakouts provide an opportunity to reflect on the keynote address and to focus on and develop activist strategies based upon it.

“The workshops allow students, faculty, staff, alumni and community members to focus on more specific topics related to sustainability and justice.”

Culminating the college’s Jan. 17 observances of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, students used music, dance, poetry and prose to survey the vast landscape of the African Diaspora, and their own diverse backgrounds, in an evening performance in Schaeffer Theatre.

Titled Sankofa, a term from Ghana’s Akan language referring to the idea of going back for what you have forgotten, the show emphasized the importance of remembering the past in order to appreciate the present and improve the future.

Reflecting the concept “Get Up, Stand Up: The Fierce Urgency of Now” — the theme for this year’s MLK Day programming at Bates — the performers captivated audience members with their talent, pride and intensity. Fellow students, faculty and townspeople including members of the local Somali community filled the theater. The production, the first of its kind, drew hoots and hollers, laughter and tears from the audience.

The production featured emotional readings, striking dance and uplifting music, displaying the talents of students from myriad backgrounds and disciplines. Directed by Linda Kugblenu ’13 of New York City and produced by Cynthia Alexandre-Brutus of Brooklyn, N.Y., the production was as much a lesson in history and culture as entertainment.

In one piece, actresses Omosede Eholor of New York City and Brittney Davis of Chicago, both first-years, performed Alexandre-Brutus’ adaption of Sojourner Truth’s speech “Ain’t I A Woman?” Rendered as a dialogue, the scene juxtaposed the inequalities facing black women in the 18th and 19th centuries with the modern context, a contrast heightened by stage lighting and costumes.

In “Four Blast From the Past,” four performers portrayed liberation movement leaders from across Africa. Raina Jacques ’13 portrayed Yaa AsanteWaa, queen mother of the Asante confederacy. She vehemently delivered the speech that stirred the men of the community to fight against British colonial domination and proclaimed that she would call upon her fellow women to get their king back.

Bisola Folarin ’14 presented Wangari Maathai, the contemporary Kenyan environmental and political activist, proclaiming the threats to the forests by her own government.

The Rev. King was honored as Jourdan Fanning ’13 performed an excerpt from his renowned “I Have a Dream” speech, expressing a fierce exigency of the need to remember the injustices the civil rights movement has fought to surmount.

The program also included dance in a variety of genres, from traditional Ghanian dance to a sampler of Caribbean styles to step dance performed by the college’s Dynasty team. Five students took part in a poetry slam; a piece honored the local Somali community with the piece “I Am a Somali”; and Bates’ own Gospelaires, a relatively recent addition to the college’s robust singing scene, offered the spiritual “Oh Freedom is Coming.” And an intermission gave the audience a chance to share their impressions.

The show stimulated the emotions with powerful performances that highlighted the diversity of Bates students. The standing ovation that closed the show expressed both admiration for the troupe and an entreaty for an encore next year.

– Kelly Cox ’11

Here’s a detailed schedule of events for the 2011 Martin Luther King Jr. Day observances at Bates College. All these events are open to the public at no cost. For more information, please call 207-786-6400.

Sunday, Jan. 16

The annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day Memorial Service of Worship takes place at 7 p.m. Sunday in the Bates College Chapel, 275 College St. The Rev. James Lawson, a definitive figure in the civil rights movement of the 1950s and ’60s, offers the sermon. Also featured is music by two student ensembles, the Gospelaires and the a cappella Crosstones, as well as a liturgical dance by the troupe Justified. To learn more, please call 207-786-8272.

Monday, Jan. 17

At 9:30 a.m., Lawson presents the first keynote address of the college’s MLK Day events in the Olin Arts Center Concert Hall, 75 Russell St. His topic: the continued importance of direct action and social justice in the 21st century.

In the first of two breakout sessions in Pettengill Hall (rooms TBA; 4 Andrews Road), starting at 11 a.m., members of the campus community discuss ideas presented in Lawson’s keynote address and plan for future activism.

Members of the debate teams from Morehouse and Bates colleges, joined by local high school debaters, address the resolution that “Violence is a justified response to political oppression” in a debate at 1 p.m. in the Benjamin Mays Center, 95 Russell St.

For the second keynote address, Asher Kolieboi, LGBTQ community coordinator in the Multicultural Resource Center at Oberlin College, examines challenges for social activists in 21st-century American culture. He speaks at 2:30 p.m. in the Olin Arts Center Concert Hall.

Another round of breakout sessions pondering Kolieboi’s remarks begins at 3:30 p.m. in Pettengill Hall.

Exploration of the day’s theme concludes with a plenary discussion with Lawson and Kolieboi at 4:30 p.m. in Pettengill Hall (room TBA).

Bates students present the performance Sankofa, a celebration of the African diasporic experience through theater, music, dance and spoken word, at 7:30 p.m. in Schaeffer Theatre, 305 College St.

Tuesday, Jan. 18

Vinie Burrows, the renowned actress, storyteller and social justice activist, offers a Noonday Concert Series performance in conjunction with the King Day observances at 12:30 p.m. in the Olin Arts Center Concert Hall. For more information, please contact 207-786-6135 or olinarts@bates.edu.

Thursday, Jan. 20

Vinie Burrows (see previous item) returns to perform her acclaimed solo show Walk Together Children, a chronicle of the African American experience, at 7 p.m. in Schaeffer Theatre, 305 College St. A question-and-answer session follows. Though this event is open to the public at no cost, tickets are required. For tickets and more information, please call 207-786-6161.