Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2023
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.
It is a time to examine contemporary human issues through the lens of King’s work and ideas, broadly defined. It is a day of thought, reflection, and aspiration for the entire community.
Celebrating “Art and Activism,” MLK Day 2023 offers 24 different presentations over two days, Jan. 15 and 16.
The observance is bookended by a documentary screening, taking place Sunday afternoon, that features a Bates alumnus who leads young men in Chicago toward healing spaces, and by the crowd-pleasing, student-produced Sankofa performance Monday evening.
Tickets, Visiting, Viewing
Unless otherwise noted, MLK Day 2023 events require tickets, and each event below has a link to reserve tickets. Please see important visitor and ticking information.
Sunday, Jan. 15
2pm | All These Sons
Screening and discussion. Chicago’s West and South sides are infamous for their high murder rates. In this documentary directed by Bing Liu and Joshua Altman, Marshall Hatch Jr. ’10 and Billy Moore (who served 20 years in prison for murder) create healing spaces for young men to reimagine themselves, find redemption, and embrace causes worth fighting for. Hatch, the subject of a cover story by Bates Magazine in 2021, will introduce the film. (2021; 88 min.) Sponsored by the Program in American Studies, Department of Anthropology, Department of Hispanic Studies, and Department of Rhetoric, Film, and Screen Studies.
Location: Olin Concert Hall | Reserve ticket here
7–8:30pm | The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Interfaith Service
An annual service celebrating the life and legacy of Martin Luther King Jr., the Martin Luther King Jr. Interfaith Service centers on this year’s theme, Art and Activism, by uplifting student poetry, songs from local multifaith community members, and a dance-message offered by Assistant Professor of Dance Brian J. Evans. All are welcome!
Location: Gomes Chapel
Monday, Jan. 16
9–10:30am | The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day Keynote
Keith Hamilton Cobb is an actor and playwright who has appeared in classical and contemporary roles on stages across the country, and is recognized for unique character portrayals he has created for television. His award-winning play, American Moor, which explores the perspective of the African American male through the metaphor of Shakespeare’s Othello, ran off-Broadway at Cherry Lane Theatre in autumn 2019. It received an Elliot Norton Award, an AUDELCO Award, two IRNE Awards, and is part of the permanent collection of the Folger Shakespeare Library.
Cobb is the director of the Untitled Othello Project, an extended interrogation and rehearsal of Othello with artists and educators, disrupting antiquated ideas of the play’s purpose and value, and exploring the human struggles with race, religion, sexuality, and other issues that it activates whenever it is performed. The project is a collaboration with Blessed Unrest Theatre and the Midnight Oil Collective and is in residence at Sacred Heart University. Cobb is a graduate of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.
Welcoming Remarks
Students’ Welcome
Sam Jean-Francois ’23
President’s Welcome and Overview
A. Clayton Spencer, President of Bates College
Introduction of Keynote Speaker
Tyler Harper, Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies
Closing
James Reese, Associate Dean for International Student Programs
Location: Gomes Chapel | Reserve ticket here
10:45am–12:15pm | Workshops: Session I
Mythbusting Grading for Equity
Workshop. Bates’ Center for Inclusive Teaching and Learning will discuss evidence-based practices for more equitable grading by investigating the spectrum of “ungrading.” Relatively new to pedagogical theory, ungrading involves assessing student work with a focus on enhanced learning and close interaction, rather than the quantifying of achievement with points or letter grades. We will share common myths or misconceptions about ungrading and encourage critical reflection on why we grade as we do. We will share rigorous and replicated decades of research demonstrating that the ways we grade can inadvertently perpetuate gaps in achievement and opportunity among our students. We will encourage all to consider incorporating practices that are more accurate, bias-resistant, and motivational. Led by: Lindsey Hamilton, Director of the Center for Inclusive Teaching and Learning; Tyler Harper, Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies; and April Hill, Wagener Family Professor of Equity and Inclusion in STEM.
Location: Pettengill G21 | Reserve ticket here
Linguistic Justice: Bridging Cultural Gaps in Community-Engaged Learning Courses
Workshop. More than 70 languages are spoken in Lewiston public schools, but English is the policing language used in education. Many Bates students entering community-engaged roles lack the skills needed to engage in the linguistic diversity present in the Lewiston community, anti-racist practices, and language justice. In this workshop designed for students interested in community engagement, we’ll examine the importance of linguistic justice and the inherently white-supremacist nature of English in academics, as well as ways in which language-based justice can promote Black and Brown joy, achievement, and belonging in academic spaces. Ideally, resources that emerge during this workshop will be shared with the Harward Center for Community Partnerships staff as a resource guide for future Bates students. We hope to partner with a group of students to lead a poetry workshop at Lewiston Middle School, promoting linguistic diversity and multilingualism in academic writing. As multilingual students who are heavily involved at the Harward Center, we see this workshop as an opportunity to share our cultures and demonstrate language’s power as a form of resistance. Led by: Marisela Flores Pineda ’23 and Sam Jean-Francois ’23.
Location: Pettengill G65 | Reserve ticket here
Bathroom Equity Now!
Panel discussion and workshop. Segregated public restrooms have long been a contested zone for activists. This panel introduces historical and contemporary struggles over race, gender, sex, labor, and (dis)ability around these vital facilities, with special attention to ongoing efforts to ensure gender-neutral and accessible bathrooms on the Bates campus. Approaching activism as a creative practice, we invite workshop participants to join in imagining more expansive futures. Organized and sponsored by the Faculty Program Committee in Gender and Sexuality Studies. Moderated by: Erica Rand, Professor of Gender and Sexuality Studies, with Tyler Shambaugh ’23; Dri Huber, Assistant Dean for LGBTQ+ Programs; and Jenna Dela Cruz Vendil ’06, Associate Director of Democratic Engagement and Student Activism.
Location: Commons 221–222 | Reserve ticket here
Translation Rhythms: From Bukavu, DRC, to Lewiston, Maine, Texts in Translation
Presentation. Students in the French and francophone studies course “Translation: Theory and Practice” (FR 271) will discuss their collaboration with students from the Université Catholique de Bukavu, Democratic Republic of Congo. They translated short works of creative nonfiction, written (mostly) during a two-hour workshop led in Bukavu by Laura Balladur, Lecturer in French and Francophone Studies, last June. Led by: Dav Kabantu ’24, Peyton Pivec ’24, and Simon Clarke ’25.
Location: Dana 219| Reserve ticket here
American Moor
Screening. Written by today’s keynote speaker, American Moor is a play about race in America, but is also a play about who gets to make art and who gets to play Shakespeare; about whose lives and perspectives matter; about actors and acting; and about the nature of unadulterated love. Led by: Keith Hamilton Cobb, playwright and performer.
Location: Pettengill G52 | Reserve ticket here
Do, Process: An Offering/Sharing of Embodied Authenticities
Workshop. Do, Process is a creative arts framework tasked with generating work grappling with the first three words of the preamble to the U.S. Constitution: “We, the people….” It’s a multi-disciplinary offering/sharing to engage audiences in community-driven art focused on creating spaces to process. How do “we” confront the implications that arise when one of the foundational documents of the United States of America does not equally protect all of its citizens, let alone those it deems illegal and foreign? Led by: Brian J. Evans, Assistant Professor of Dance.
Location: Marcy Plavin Dance Studio (Merrill 216 A) | Reserve ticket here
Midday Programming
12:30 | Bates Voices: Honoring Martin Luther King Jr.
Readings. Bates faculty, staff, and students are invited to honor King’s work by sharing short original writings addressing his legacy, and excerpted texts that have inspired the readers. Led by: James Reese, Associate Dean for International Student Programs.
Location: Commons, Fireplace Lounge
Noon–1pm | Lunch
Special price of $7. Visitors are welcome.
Location: Commons
12:15–4:30pm | Just Flour
Workshop. Inspired by the work of Honduran American baker Bryan Ford, who has challenged the eurocentrism of Western baking traditions, this hands-on bread baking workshop will be interspersed with discussions of food justice and environmental justice. This two-session workshop is limited to students only. Led by: Tyler Harper, Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies.
Location: Roger Williams G17 | Reserve ticket here
1:15–2:45pm | Workshops Session II
A Little Devil in America
Book discussion. Open to those who signed up for the book club, this event examines Hanif Abdurraqib’s profound reflection on how Black performance is inextricably woven into the fabric of American culture. Led by: Dale Chapman, Associate Professor of Music.
Location: Commons 221–222
American Moor
Discussion. Participants share their impressions of the play American Moor and discuss the state of Shakespeare and Black theater in America with Keith Hamilton Cobb. Open to those who viewed the screening at 10:45am today. Led by: Keith Hamilton Cobb, playwright, performer, and today’s keynote speaker.
Location: Pettengill G52 | Reserve ticket here
Alan Magee: art is not a solace
Screening and discussion. Directed by P. David Berez and David Wright, this documentary focuses on Alan Magee, a mesmerizing Maine artist whose extraordinary talents span music, sculpture, painting, and short films, as he offers insight into his evolution as an artist. His explorations of greed, war, cruelty, and violence produce haunting artworks that speak to social justice and the responsibility of artists to comment on the world around them. A discussion of the art and activism follows the screening. Led by: Chris Schiff, Music and Arts Librarian, Marianne Williams, Humanities Librarian, and Ben Peck, Associate College Librarian for Research Services. (2022; 60 min.)
Location: Pettengill G21 | Reserve ticket here
Grading Practices to Increase Equity and Learning in STEM Courses
Workshop. This session will engage participants with a variety of practices in student assessment and grading in STEM courses that can lead to more equitable outcomes for students and increase student learning. We will also discuss some of the common, and mostly untested, assumptions that equate strict or harsh grading with rigor and achievement. Participants will be encouraged to share their own experiences with equity-minded grading. Led by: April Hill, Wagener Family Professor of Equity and Inclusion in STEM; and Lindsey Hamilton, Director of the Center for Inclusive Teaching and Learning.
Location: Dana 219 | Reserve ticket here
A Moment of Rest: Integrating Deep Listening
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.” — Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Listening session. Join multidisciplinary artist James Allister Sprang for 45 minutes of deep listening, supported by an award-winning score of ambient spiritual jazz and poetry. Sprang describes deep listening as a radical act meant to consciously bring awareness to the present moment while welcoming our bodies, our ancestors, our traumas, our pain, our longings, visions, and dreams. In what is much like a sound bath, he invites you to attend, turn inward, and be moved by what you find. This session will be preceded by a short talk on Sprang’s community work and aural/oral activism using America’s only 4DSound system — an advanced spatial technology that allows one to treat space as an instrument. In this work, Sprang has choreographed individual elements of his compositions to move like physical objects, thereby activating the question, “How can we tune into that which does not physically hold space with us?” Presented by: James Allister Sprang. Sponsored by Bates IMPACT 21st.
Location: Gannett Theater | Reserve ticket here
The Right to Live with One’s Parents vs U.S. Immigration Policy of Family Separation
Screening and discussion. U.S. immigration policies enforce family separation. Several million U.S. citizen children have at least one undocumented parent and are part of mixed-status families. Even though they are entitled to the same rights and freedoms as all Americans, many of these children are growing up with the constant fear of separation from their parents. The workshop features a showing of Abrazos (Embraces), a film by Guatemalan director Luis Argueta, about the experience of 14 U.S. citizen children, sons and daughters of unauthorized immigrants in this country, who travel from Minnesota to Guatemala to meet their grandparents, and in some cases, their siblings, for the first time. Luis Argueta will answer questions at the end. Led by: Baltasar Fra-Molinero, Professor of Hispanic Studies.
Location: Pettengill G65 | Reserve ticket here
3–4:30pm | Workshops Session III
Theater of the Oppressed with Maine Inside Out
Workshop. This Maine Inside Out workshop is designed for community members who wish to embody and learn MIO’s play process personally or professionally. The aim is to offer somatic theater workshops that de-mechanize learned behaviors and build containers for play, intimacy, and trust; experience with theater exercises and learning how to play and lead them; and skills/exercises/games that participants can bring home. Led by: MIO facilitators. Sponsored by: Harward Center for Community Partnerships and the Bates Arts Collaborative.
Location: Commons 221–222 | Reserve ticket here
Reconsidering Othello
Discussion. Participants will discuss the legacy and racial politics of Shakespeare’s infamous Othello with Keith Hamilton Cobb, collaborators from his ongoing Untitled Othello Project, and Bates’ resident Shakespeare expert, Katie Adkison. All workshop participants will be asked to read Othello ahead of time. Led by: Keith Hamilton Cobb, Robert Manning, and Terrell Donnell Sledge of the Untitled Othello Project; David Sterling Brown, Assistant Professor of English, Trinity College, Connecticut; and Katie Adkison, Assistant Professor of English.
Location: Commons 226 | Reserve ticket here
BlackNESCAC
Presentation. Ellijah McLean ’20 describes this session: “Throughout this fall semester my friend from Colby, Samah, and I have created a program called BlackNESCAC. BlackNESCAC connects Black student scholars across NESCAC chapters into a larger community. Our aim is to advocate for Black students on campus throughout our academic experiences and careers thereafter. Through the cohort, we will develop resources that Black students can use to succeed in predominantly white institutions (PWIs) in the rural Northeast. By accessing the plethora of resources, co-curricular opportunities, and post-grad life NESCAC institutions have to offer, we’ll ensure that we thrive and increase our retention rates at these institutions. Only through pooling our resources in a collaborative effort will we stand united. We want to use this day to promote BlackNESCAC and invite people from our chapters at Bowdoin and Colby, and alums from these three Maine NESCAC colleges.” Led by: Ellijah McLean ’20, Samah Mohamedzein, and Sabrina Mohamed ’24.
Location: Pettengill G21 | Reserve ticket here
Free Press and the History and Future of Social Justice Printmaking
Workshop. This session is a history and exploration of social justice printmaking at Bates and beyond. It will provide a chance for MLK Day participants to explore the role of poster- and printmaking in protest and activism. We will consider: How do protest prints and images help us imagine and envision a different world? How do they root us in cause and purpose? What are the limits of printmaking in advancing social justice work? Is art activism? How can art be healing and/or affirmative? Participants will be invited to reflect, discuss, and create some art (no experience required). Led by: Elliott Vahey ’23 and Tyler Shambaugh ’23.
Location: Pettengill G52 | Reserve ticket here
Active Art? The Activity of Objects and Their Projects
Workshop. When we think about arts and activism, we often recall artists who are political/social activists creating works of art. However, there is a sense in which “activistic” arts can be construed as artworks that are in themselves involved in an activity. This latter sense suggests that a supposedly inanimate, or at least a created, object/happening/product exerts an animate force on seemingly uncreated consumers. Yet that seems paradoxical: How can a product representing reality itself inflect, and indeed “change,” that reality? Drawing from contemporary critical theory and political theories on representation, this workshop will explore that paradox as it has arisen from the early 20th century to the second decade of the 21st. Examining writers, performance artists, and visual artists, we will explore the liberatory potentialities of avenues that seemingly take us beyond this divide between representation and represented, making the acted into an actor. Led by: Pico Banerjee ’23, Brady Chilson ’23, and Khushi Choudhary ’23.
Location: Pettengill G65 | Reserve ticket here
4:45pm | The Rev. Dr. Benjamin Elijah Mays, Class of 1920, Debate
Debate. This ever-popular debate, presented by students from Morehouse College and Bates College, honors Dr. Mays, a Bates debater, longtime Morehouse president, pioneer of the civil rights movement, and important mentor to Martin Luther King Jr. This year’s motion is: “This house believes that the targeting of iconic works of art to advance social justice is justified.”
Location: Olin Concert Hall | Reserve ticket here
8pm | Evening Program: Sankofa
Sankofa
Performance. Sankofa is the Black Student Union’s annual cultural showcase, made up of members of the African diaspora. A decade-long tradition at Bates, Sankofa comes from the Akan word for return — embodying remembrance, memory, and community in its use. Honoring this year’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day theme, Art and Activism, Sankofa aims to reflect Black grief, Black resistance, and most importantly Black joy through poems, dances, speeches, and songs. All members of the greater Bates community are welcome to help us embody the beauty of Black joy, and hold this space of resistance with us.
Location: Schaeffer Theatre | Reserve ticket here