Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2025
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day at Bates is a community-wide opportunity to discuss, teach, and reflect on the legacy of civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr.
This year’s observance, centered on Sunday and Monday, Jan. 19–20, explores the theme Bending Toward Justice: Peace and Nonviolence. The 2025 keynote speaker is scholar and author Erica Chenoweth, an expert in mass movements, nonviolent resistance, terrorism, political violence, revolutions, and state repression.
Note: The 2025 MLK Day schedule is preliminary and subject to change and updates.
Sunday, Jan. 19, 2025
2pm | Film and Discussion: Children of Peace
In the 1970s, a group of dreamers embarked on a utopian experiment, giving birth to Neve Shalom — a village envisioned as a model of harmonious coexistence between Arabs and Jews. Despite these noble aspirations, the community found itself entangled in internal conflicts and beset by external challenges that put their revolutionary vision to the test.
This documentary, a groundbreaking exploration, delves into the experiences of the children who came of age in this extraordinary setting. Now adults, they grapple with the harsh realities of political turmoil, war, and societal segregation. Through their personal stories, Children of Peace seeks to scrutinize whether Neve Shalom indeed offered a genuine opportunity for peaceful coexistence or if it was, ultimately, nothing more than a social experiment.
Location: Pettengill G52 | Reserve ticket here
7–8pm | MLK Day Spoken Word Festival
Presentation: The Multifaith Chaplaincy celebrates the voices that propelled the work of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. with performances from poets, spoken word artists, and musicians.
The second annual MLK Day Spoken Word festival brings together powerful poetry and soulful song around the theme “Bending Toward Justice: Peace and Nonviolence.” Featured artists for the evening are acclaimed poet and co-executive director of Maine Inside Out, Joseph Jackson, and beloved singer Kenya Hall whom Rolling Stone dubbed a “soul powerhouse.” Students Misaki Fukushima ’25, Ahmednoor Hassan ’27, Bora Lugunda ’25, and Oleksii Sverbyvus ’28 will also perform pieces at the festival.
Location: Gomes Chapel
Monday, Jan. 20
9am – 10:30am | The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day Keynote
President’s Welcome
Garry W. Jenkins, President of Bates College
Introduction of Keynote Speaker
Tyler Harper, Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies, Co-chair of the Martin Luther King Jr. Day Planning Committee
Keynote Address
Erica Chenoweth
Closing
James Reese, Associate Dean of International Student Programs, Member of the Martin Luther King Jr. Day Planning Committee
Location: Gomes Chapel | Reserve ticket here
10:45am–1pm
Dream Big with the Bobcats
Bates student-athletes will host a community day for local youth in grades 1–6. The event will start with a brief discussion about the legacy of MLK followed by reading, coloring, an optional fun run, walk, or roll, and pizza and refreshments.
Sponsors: Department of Athletics, Athletics Committee, Athletics Equity and Inclusion Council, Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, Harward Center for Community Partnerships, and the Athletics Committee of Bates Student Government
Location: Merrill Gymnasium | Reserve ticket here
10:45am–12:15pm | Workshops: Session I
Ain’t No Back to a Merry-Go-Round
Film and Discussion: Never-before-seen footage, immersive storytelling, and firsthand accounts from living protesters drive this compelling documentary about the events more than six decades ago at Glen Echo Amusement Park, a whites-only recreation destination for metropolitan Washington, D.C.
One day in June 1960, Black students from Howard University entered the park and sat on the merry-go-round. White, middle-aged neighbors, largely Jewish, joined the protest, which was soon countered violently by members of the American Nazi Party. Black students marched with white supporters for 10 weeks, creating a melting pot of activists that helped to radicalize future giants of the Civil Rights Movement.
Note: This offering extends from 10:45 to 12:45 p.m.
Presenter: Ilana Trachtman, the film’s director, who will lead a post-screening Q&A via Zoom
Location: Hedge 106 | Reserve ticket here
Black Dandyism: Culture of Dress and Imagination
Workshop: The forthcoming Met Costume Institute’s exhibition Superfine: Tailoring Black Style examines the Black dandy as a figure, style, and expression of Black possibility. This workshop utilizes the same guiding text, written by scholar Monica L. Miller, who is the exhibition’s guest curator. Participants will learn the history of Dandy dress as described by Miller and discuss its role in Black resistance, as well as the role of sartorial culture more broadly, specifically tailoring, in the development of modern power systems.
Presenter: Janie Phillips ’27
Location: Dana 219 | Reserve ticket here
Black Resistance Through Wealth: What We Can Learn from Black Wall Street
Workshop: Black resistance is characterized many ways, such as through protest and systemic reform, but it is seldom identified through economic prosperity. The concept of Black wealth was never supposed to be part of America’s racial hegemony, so the simple act of garnering wealth in a nation where your ancestors were once viewed as capital is one of the greatest forms of resistance possible for Black folks in capitalist America. Nowhere epitomized this fact more than Black Wall Street of Tulsa, Okla., as the practice of Black separatism paired with entrepreneurial fervor not only made Black Wall Street a cultural hub,but also helped make the entire city of Tulsa one of the largest economic hubs in the U.S. in the early 20th century. This workshop will serve as a historical analysis of Black Wall Street in an attempt to fully understand its lasting legacy of Black wealth, resistance, and possibility.
Presenter: Andrew Goddard ’27
Location: Pettengill G21 | Reserve ticket here
Honoring the Water, Land, and People: Passamaquoddy Pathways to Healing and Anticolonial Future
Workshop: Centering the wisdom and resilience of the Passamaquoddy Indigenous people in Maine, this workshop explores the importance of honoring water, land, and people, with truth-telling as a path to healing, resilience, and resistance. Participants will gain an appreciation for truth-telling as a powerful form of resistance, enabling the Passamaquoddy to confront historical injustices and foster strength to resist oppression.
Presenters: Yun Garrison, assistant professor of psychology; Minquansis Sapiel, Passamaquoddy Tribe member from Sipayik; Liang Wu, visiting assistant professor of anthropology
Location: Commons 221 | Reserve ticket here
Builders Movement Initiative
Presentation: As societies become increasingly divided, institutions need support to equip people with the skills, tools, and network for thinking flexibility and solving problems constructively, without resorting to hatred, dehumanization, and violence. Builders Movement, a student-led initiative at Bates, seeks to combat polarization and dehumanization through passionate conviction and critical thinking, undertaking informed civic action to transform our communities. This workshop will give an overview of previous dialogue efforts at Bates, connect participants about opportunities and concerns, and learn specific skills on how to engage others with curiosity, compassion, and constructive problem-solving.
Presenter: Ananya Rao ’25
Sponsors: Builders Movement; Harward Center for Community Partnerships
Location: Pettengill G65 | Reserve ticket here
Local Antiwar Organizing Today
Workshop: What does local antiwar organizing look like in Maine today? What are the challenges, motivations, experiences, strategies, and hopes of organizers working to call out and end U.S. involvement in violent conflicts abroad? This workshop brings together Maine community organizers to discuss these questions in a space of solidarity. Discussants include representatives from the Lewiston and Portland ceasefire and divestment efforts, Jewish Voices for Peace, Maine immigrant and human rights organizers, Maine FJP, and the Maine Coalition for Palestine. The MLK day workshops at Bates began in response to US military involvement in the Middle East and the need to disrupt usual schedules to meaningfully process these activities. This workshop is in the spirit of these origins.
Sponsors: Lewiston Ceasefire and Divestment Working Group and Bates faculty including Christine Martinez, visiting assistant professor of environmental Studies; Darby Ray, director of the Harward Center for Community Partnerships; and Asha Tamirisa, assistant professor of music
Pettengill G52 | Reserve ticket here
Sexy Peace: Reflections on Colman Domingo as Bayard Rustin
Workshop: Bayard Rustin, an African American gay man, was the architect for the use of nonviolence in the Civil Rights Movement. This presentation examines how the critically acclaimed film Rustin (2023) makes gay sex and desires indispensable to the success of the momentous 1963 March on Washington.
Presenter: Charles Nero, Benjamin E. Mays ’20 Distinguished Professor of Rhetoric, Film, and Screen Studies
Location: Dana 204 | Reserved ticket here
1:15–2:45 pm | Workshops: Session II
Working Class Discontent: A Reckoning of Economic Discontent and the 2024 Elections
Panel Discussion: This discussion, with diverse worker and union voices, will center key issues left unaddressed in the 2024 election and focus on what it will take to organize for economic security and human dignity in the new political era. Under the second phase of the Civil Rights Movement, known as the Poor People’s Campaign, Martin Luther King Jr. sought to unify America’s poor and working class on economic opportunity and human dignity, across racial lines.
With impressive economic gains from the Biden-Harris administration to secure union jobs and investments in roads and infrastructure, canceling student-loan debt, and tax credits for parents, many saw Harris’s campaign as an attempt to unify a multi-racial, multi-class electorate. While Trump’s victory across most voting groups signals an electorate shift to the right, in down-ballot races — abortion rights, pro-worker ballot measures, and union candidates — saw impressive victories in the election. Working-class discontent has been described as the reason for Trump’s victory, but the U.S. working class is diverse, stratified, and largely unorganized.
Panelists: Linda Deane, president of the Western Maine Labor Council and member of United Steelworkers Local 900; Maine State Rep. Kilton Webb, vice president of the Western Maine Labor Council and member of IBEW Local 567
Moderator: Jenna Dela Cruz Vendil ’06, associate director of democratic engagement and student activism for the Harward Center for Community Partnerships
Sponsor: Harward Center for Community Partnerships
Location: Pettengill G52 | Reserve ticket here
Citizen George: Non-violent Activist George Lakey
Film and Discussion: The documentary Citizen George presents the life and work of Philadelphia-based Quaker activist George Lakey, a nonviolent revolutionary who has worked his entire life for justice and peace, guided by his ideal of societal transformation. The film moves back and forth in time, highlighting specific events of Lakey’s activist life, including fighting for civil rights, anti-Vietnam War activism, LGBTQ rights, human rights in Sri Lanka, and climate justice.
In addition to detailing his life as an activist, Citizen George tells Lakey’s personal journey as a husband, father, and out gay man, featuring animated sequences, inspired by graphic novels, illustrating scenes from his life. His story provides life-giving lessons to those struggling to make sense of the current troubling political climate, illuminate a path forward, and inspire those willing to work for change to face today’s moment.
Presenter: Chris Schiff, Music and Arts Librarian
Sponsor: Ladd Library
Location: Pettengill G21 | Reserve ticket here
Where Does Your Grief Sit?
Workshop: It is difficult to talk about grief, especially after November 6th 2024, and it can even be more difficult to write through grief. In this workshop, we’ll read Simonides’ poetry for epitaphs in Ancient Greece, Anis Mojgani’s poems that are in response to a person who is no longer living and in response to a person who is still living, Kaveh Akbar’s poem about the repetition and images of grief, and Yanyi’s poem about communal grief. We’ll explore how grief is related to our mental health, and how poems might be written and revised during hard times.
Presenter: Maya Williams, seventh poet laureate of Portland, Maine
Location: Pettengill G65 | Reserve ticket here
Desire, Violence, and Peace in Things Hidden: The Life and Legacy of René Girard
Film and Discussion: The new film on the life of the French thinker René Girard explores his passion for intellectual discovery, his midlife religious conversion, and his quest to uncover the violent origins of human culture. The post-film discussion will explore the implications of his ideas for peace and violence in today’s world.
Note: This workshop extends from 1:15 to 3:30 p.m.
Presenters: Raymond Clothier, associate multifaith chaplain; Holly Ewing, professor of environmental studies; Greg Boardman, musician and educator
Sponsors: Program in Environmental Studies and Multifaith Chaplaincy
Location: Olin 104 | Reserve ticket here
3–4:30pm | Workshops: Session III
Doing the Hard Work of Difficult Discussions
Workshop: Navigating difficult conversations can be a challenge for everyone (students, professors, librarians, counselors, landscapers, deans etc.), but it’s an essential skill for both personal and professional success. Join us for a workshop where we’ll explore real-world scenarios through relevant case studies. Practice practical strategies for effective communication, active listening, and conflict resolution and leave slightly more equipped to handle tough conversations with confidence and empathy.
Facilitators: Wells Castonguay, assistant director of the Center for Inclusive Teaching and Learning; Lindsey Hamilton ’05, director of the Center for Inclusive Teaching and Learning and lecturer
Sponsor: Center for Inclusive Teaching and Learning
Location: Dana 219 | Reserve ticket here
Honoring Our Community’s Wounds, Planting Seeds of Healing
Workshop: All-levels meditation and guided healing reflection, introduction to four Northeastern medicinal plants, and group sowing of seeds in small pots. Each participant can take a pot home. Remote (Zoom) participants could visit the Nutrition Center at a later date to plant seeds.
Presenter: Alison McConnell, community growing manager, St. Mary’s Nutrition Center
Location: Dana 204 | Reserve ticket here
Restorative Practices: Building Bridges for Healing
Workshop: As the restorative practice systems specialist for the Cumberland County Public Health Department, workshop presenter Andrew Forsthoefel collaborates with schools to develop and implement restorative practice/justice systems. The workshop will introduce attendants to restorative justice circles and dialogue facilitation, which allow communities to embrace the humanity of each individual, foster inclusion, repair and transform harm, and nurture deeper connections. The goal would be to give attendees practical skills in approaching difficult conversations and facilitating healthy dialogue, especially in tumultuous political times.
Presenters: Restorative Practice Advisors Julia Parham ’25, Risa Horiuchi ’25, John Campana ’26, and Nice Matrakul ’26; Andee Bucciarelli, assistant dean of community standards and deputy Title IX coordinator; Andrew Forsthoefel
Sponsor: Bates Restorative Practice Advisors
Location: Pettengill G52 | Reserve ticket here
Expanding our Capacities for Mutual Aid: Naloxone Training
Workshop: These times of increasing structural violence call us to expand our capacities to participate in mutual aid from an abolitionist perspective that emphasizes well-being versus punishment. This workshop will offer participants training on how to use naloxone (Narcan) — a medicine that can be administered to rapidly reverse opioid overdose — and discuss other harm-reduction strategies that support overdose prevention and safe use.
Presenters: Lauren Hunt, harm reduction program coordinator for MaineGeneral Health; Kiren Bagga ’27; Erica Rand, professor of gender and sexuality studies and of art and visual culture
Sponsor: Program in Gender and Sexuality Studies
Location: Commons 221 | Reserve ticket here
Screen Printing Drop-In Workshop
Workshop: For this screen printing workshop in the Olin Arts Center, participants can bring their own items for printing or purchase T-shirts, posters, or tote bags. Several student-created designs will be available for printing relating to the college’s 2025 MLK Day theme, Bending Toward Justice: Peace and Nonviolence.
Presenters: Michel Droge, visiting lecturer in art and visual culture; Cat Balco, professor of art and visual culture; students in art and visual culture
Sponsor: Department of Art and Visual Culture
Location: Olin Lobby | Reserve ticket here
Reclaiming Public Memory
Presentation: For more than a decade, scholars and activists have worked to recover public memory — narratives, names, and images — that are manifestations of a community’s understanding of its own history and reflective of the stories we tell, or don’t tell, to ourselves or future generations. In Maine, grassroots efforts from scholars, artists, and culture keepers have shaped public conversations in ways that offer new possibilities for changing relationships that have policy or political impacts for Wabanaki and African American communities. This dynamic conversation will explore how histories, knowledge, and actions that diverge from mainstream narratives and become reshaped into public memory — opening new possibilities for social change.
Presenters: Joe Hall, associate professor of history; James Francis, Penobscot Nation director of cultural and historic preservation; Meadow Dibble, founder and executive director of the Atlantic Black Box; and Bob Greene, a retired journalist whose Maine roots date to the 1700s and who has researched the state’s African American history.
Sponsor: Harward Center for Community Partnerships
Pettengill G65 | Reserve ticket here
4:45pm
The Rev. Dr. Benjamin Elijah Mays Debate
Debate: Presented by students from Morehouse and Bates colleges, this debate honors the Rev. Dr. Benjamin Mays, a 1920 Bates graduate, prominent debater, longtime Morehouse president, pioneer of the civil rights movement, and important mentor to Martin Luther King Jr.
This year’s topic is “Resolved: Law and order exists for the purpose of establishing justice.” It draws from Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” in which King decried the inaction of the country’s faint-hearted “white moderates” who professed allegiance to the civil rights movement yet seemed to prefer inaction to action.
King wrote, “I had hoped that the white moderate would understand that law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice and that when they fail in this purpose they become the dangerously structured dams that block the flow of social progress.”
Location: Olin Concert Hall | Reserve ticket here
7pm
Evening Performances
A montage of presentations and music addressing the MLK theme and legacy and aims of social justice.
Olin Concert Hall | Reserve ticket here