(Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nAssistant Professor of Environmental Studies Tyler Harper, who chairs the college’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day Planning Committee, walks past the Mouthpiece featuring this year’s poster for the MLK Day theme, “Bending Toward Justice: Peace and Nonviolence.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
10:48 a.m. Fashion as Subversion<\/h3>\n\n\n\n Janie Phillips ’27, an English major from Portland, Ore., shared her presentation on the Black Dandy, a figure who pushes back the norms of white supremacy by \u201cdressing to live, and living to dress.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n(Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nShe walked the audience through the history of the Black Dandy, tracing its origins to the 18th century, when enslaved and freed Black individuals used fashion as a form of resistance and self-expression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Phillips asked the workshop participants to discuss their ideas of what it means to be a gentleman, highlighting the standards of white supremacy which the Black Dandy operated within and subverted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n(Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nDrawing information primarily from the book Slaves to Fashion <\/em>by Monica L. Miller, Phillips brought the audience to the present day, showing photos of modern day dandyism at the Met Gala and giving the audience a deeper appreciation for how clothing can be a form of both personal and political resistance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n11:07 a.m. Wealth as Resistance<\/h2>\n\n\n\n \u201cI just love talking about rich Black folks,\u201d quipped Andrew Goddard \u201927 as he presented the history of the Greenwood district of Tulsa, Okla., a Black neighborhood famously known for its economic prosperity in the early 1900s \u2014 and infamously known for being destroyed by a white mob over just two days of murder and mayhem in 1921.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Goddard\u2019s presentation grew out of a project he completed last fall for the course “Black Resistance from the Civil War to Civil Rights,\u201d taught by Frances Bell, a visiting assistant professor of history. \u201cI thought about the concept of Black wealth,\u201d he said. \u201cI concluded that garnering capital in a nation where our ancestors were once viewed as capital may be the greatest form of Black resistance possible under capitalism.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n(Theophil Syslo \/ Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nHis MLK Day presentation featured YouTube video clips, archival photographs, and his own strong narrative command. For the audience, the net effect was to grasp the incredible economic and social prestige of a district that was dubbed the \u201cBlack Wall Street.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey had up to 600 businesses in the district. I know that number is huge \u2014 just absurd \u2014 in a 35-block radius. Unreal,\u201d he said. \u201cForty grocery stores, 30 restaurants, at least 15 physicians, some of which were regarded as some of the most talented in the country. And six private airplanes, which at the time was kind of just a weird flex!\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A mob destroyed the district and killed upward of 300 people from May 31 to June 1, 1921. There are two known survivors of the massacre, Viola Fletcher and Lessie Benningfield Randle, both over 100 years old, but legal efforts to seek justice for them and descendants of those killed have not been successful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n(Theophil Syslo \/ Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nAs Goddard said in his talk, his focus was not on the massacre, but on what existed and what it meant: \u201cpossibility, advancement, but even fear that arises as a result of widespread Black wealth, social capital, and unity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Reflecting on what he learned from the project, Goddard said that he \u201creally wanted to figure out what this place looked like, how it came to be, and the reasons behind why things are the way they are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI guess it just told me that I like finding the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
11:09 a.m. Biopic Depictions<\/h3>\n\n\n\n Simply being oneself can be a powerful action, explained Charles Nero, Benjamin E. Mays ’20 Distinguished Prof of Rhetoric, Film, and Screen Studies, in his presentation \u201cSexy Peace.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nCarly Philpott \u201927 for Bates College<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nThe talk centered around Bayard Rustin, an anti-violence pioneer and one of Martin Luther King Jr.’s closest but oft-overlooked mentors. As a Black, gay man in the 1960s, Rustin was often an outsider among his fellow activists and in greater American society. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nero used the 2023 biopic Rustin<\/em>, based on Rustin\u2019s life and starring Colman Domingo, to exhibit how Rustin\u2019s sexuality and his fight for civil liberties were inextricably linked. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cThere’s a tremendous amount of resistance to Bayard Rustin as a Black, gay man who is not private about his sexuality, who does not conform to respectability politics,\u201d Nero said. \u201cHe’s making the activists very nervous.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As the film\u2019s characters prepare for the historic 1963 March on Washington, Rustin\u2019s fellow civil rights leaders worry about how the public will respond to him being openly gay. Rustin asserts that he cannot and will not change how he presents his sexual orientation to the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat you see, I cannot conceal,\u201d Rustin says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
11:21 a.m. Community on Track<\/h3>\n\n\n\nTheophil Syslo\/Bates College<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nBates students and local children came together for a morning of games, crafts, and mentoring, embodying the spirit of service and inspiration central to MLK Day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
11:56 a.m. Community from the Ground Up<\/h3>\n\n\n\n Minquansis Sapiel, Passamaquoddy Tribe member from Sipayik, led a morning workshop, \u201cHonoring Water and Land,\u201d which centered the wisdom and resilience of the Passamaquoddy Indigenous people in Maine.<\/p>\n\n\n\nAvery Lehman ’25 for Bates College<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nSapiel spoke about her experiences of isolation and frustration growing up Native in Maine and then opened up discussion groups on taking actions to support and grow community. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cLet\u2019s decolonize our minds a little bit,\u201d Sapiel told the packed house in one of the conference rooms in Commons. \u201cThat means assess our values from the heart.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nAssociate Professor of Anthropology Joyce Bennett talks with students, including Henry Lennig \u201825 of Scarborough, Maine, at left, in one of the breakout group discussions. (Photo by Avery Lehman \u201925 for Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nBut first, something had to be done about the furniture. \u201c I feel like institutions like this…,\u201d she said, gesturing to the lines of chairs set up, audience style, and shaking her head. \u201cThis whole setup, I would not have it this way. I would not have us lined up and just me out there alone. I would have us in circles engaging, because like I said in the beginning, it takes all of us and all of our minds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cEach and every one of us have something to bring to the table. When we learn that and know that, we can create the most powerful, wonderful things. So I would love that for us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Once students, faculty, and staff had settled into groups, Sapiel gave them a single, action-oriented question to consider: \u201cHow are you going to show up for your community?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nSuzanne Janelle and Andre Janelle were two community attendees who grew up in Lewiston. Andre began attending MLK day seminars in the past couple years for the important conversations had and topics covered. His wife Suzanne has also joined him as of late. (Avery Lehman \u201825 for Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nKyle Woodworth \u201925, of Berwick, Nova Scotia, got right to business as facilitator for his group. \u201cI think talking about what we can actively do for our communities is a good question,\u201d Woodworth said. \u201cI think before we begin we probably want to think about what community means to each of us. That’s a very different thing.\u201d And the group was off and running.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
1:59 p.m. Grief and Poetry, Personal and Universal<\/h3>\n\n\n\n Cal Dagner ’27 of Crozet, Va., read her poetry aloud during the workshop “Where Does Your Grief Sit?” by Portland\u2019s poet laureate Maya Williams.<\/p>\n\n\n\nSammy Weidenthal ’27 for Bates College<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nWilliams asked the workshop participants to describe physical aspects of grief prompted by the poems, societal expectations about grief they\u2019d witnessed, and the power of art in the face of loss. Attendees offered poems from different areas of history and parts of the world, all united by the theme of grief.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
From rhyming poems by the ancient Greek Simonides to meditations on suicide by Iranian-American poet Kaveh Akbar, Williams guided participants through a journey of understanding grief as both a deeply personal and universally human experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
3:03 p.m. Malleable Memory<\/h3>\n\n\n\n Jenna Dela Cruz Vendil \u201906, associate director of democratic engagement and student activism at the Harward Center for Community Partnerships, welcomed attendees to the workshop “Reclaiming Public Memory.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n (Theophil Syslo\/Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nThe session addressed grassroots work in Maine from scholars, artists, and culture keepers that are shaping public conversations. These efforts offer new possibilities for changing relationships that have political impacts on Wabanaki and African American communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
3:32 p.m. Different Kind of Justice<\/h3>\n\n\n\n Bates Restorative Practices student advisors Risa Horiuchi \u201925, John Campana \u201926 (center), and Julia Parham \u201925 led “Building Bridges for Healing” workshop participants in restorative justice exercises.<\/p>\n\n\n\nPhyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nAn alternative to retributive justice, restorative justice aims to mediate conflict, remedy harm to victims, and discourage future harmful behaviors through community-building practices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Facilitators began with an introductory activity intended to make the room into a \u201csanctuary,\u201d where participants felt comfortable sharing and exploring new ways of communication. In the next activity, attendees paired up to have conversations about conflict focused on active listening and responding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt’s sometimes hard to do active listening because often we are trying to think of what we want to say,\u201d Parham said. \u201cI invite you to challenge that.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Student advisor Nice Matrakul \u201926, Assistant Dean of Community Standards and Deputy Title IX Coordinator Andee Bucciarelli, and Andrew Forsthoefel, the restorative practice systems specialist with the Cumberland County Public Health Department, also facilitated the workshop.<\/p>\n\n\n\nAndrew Forsthoefel, the restorative practice systems specialist with the Cumberland County Public Health Department, guided workshop attendees through a restorative justice circle practice. Practitioners shared, listened, and asked questions. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nForsthoefel first learned about restorative justice while completing a year-long walk across the North American continent with a sign reading \u201cWalking to listen\u201d taped to his back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the Western U.S., members of the Navajo nation introduced Forsthoefel to restorative justice, which has roots in indigenous culture. He went on to complete an eight-year apprenticeship with a Navajo restorative justice master practitioner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe have to remember that this isn’t something new we’re making up,\u201d Forsthoefel said. \u201cWe’re inheriting an ancient wisdom that is finding its way into modern society.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
4:23 p.m. Spreading the MLK Love<\/h3>\n\n\n\n(Avery Lehman \u201825 for Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nEmmy Comrack ’25 of Washington, D.C., prints a Bates MLK Day ’25 design on a tote bag during a screen printing workshop in Olin Arts Center. At right is Michel Droge, a visiting lecturer in art and visual culture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Several student-created designs were available for printing, including one displayed by Sarah Van Lonkhuyzen \u201827 of Rockport, Maine, who was one of the first students to ink up a themed screen print.<\/p>\n\n\n\n4:49 p.m. Debating Justice<\/h3>\n\n\n\n The annual debate in the Olin Arts Center Concert Hall honoring the Rev. Benjamin E. Mays, welcomed students from Morehouse and Bates colleges.<\/p>\n\n\n\nDuring the penultimate event of MLK Day, the Rev. Dr. Benjamin Elijah Mays Debate, Manav Mittal ’27 of Glastonbury, Conn., and Junias Lunsford-Peaks, Morehouse Class of 2028, teamed up to debate Ari Hahn ’27 of Carbondale, Colo., and Quentin Davis, Morehouse Class of 2028, of South Orange, N.J. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nMays, a 1920 Bates graduate, was a longtime Morehouse College president known as the “Schoolmaster of the Movement” for mentoring Martin Luther King Jr. and other future civil rights leaders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This year\u2019s topic was \u201cResolved: Law and order exists for the purpose of establishing justice.\u201d It drew from Martin Luther King Jr.\u2019s \u201cLetter from Birmingham Jail,\u201d in which King decried the inaction of the country\u2019s faint-hearted \u201cwhite moderates\u201d who professed allegiance to the civil rights movement yet seemed to prefer inaction to action.<\/p>\n\n\n\nBates debater Ari Hahn ’27 of Carbondale, Colo., and Morehouse debater Quentin Davis of South Orange, N.J., chat and strategize during the Mays Debate. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nKing wrote, \u201cI 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.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
7:56 p.m. Ending Together<\/h3>\n\n\n\n In the evening, the Olin Arts Center Concert Hall was the setting for the final event of the college’s MLK Day observance, a montage of student presentations addressing the day’s theme as well as the legacy and aims of social justice. Here, Sebenele Lukhele \u201926, a biological chemistry major from Manzini, Eswatini,\u00a0speaks to the gathering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n(Sammy Weidenthal ’27 for Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nReporting by Jay Burns, Alexandra DeMarco, Mary Pols, Hannah Kothari ’26, and Ramona McNish ’28 of Bates Communications and Marketing.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This year\u2019s MLK Day celebration, themed \u201cBending Toward Justice: Peace and Nonviolence,\u201d…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":148,"featured_media":167175,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_hide_ai_chatbot":false,"_ai_chatbot_style":"","associated_faculty":["charles-i-nero","joyce-n-bennett"],"_Page_Specific_Css":"","_bates_restrict_mod":false,"_table_of_contents_display":false,"_table_of_contents_location":"","_table_of_contents_disableSticky":false,"_is_featured":false,"footnotes":"","_bates_seo_meta_description":"","_bates_seo_block_robots":false,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_id":0,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_twitter_id":0,"_bates_seo_share_title":"","_bates_seo_canonical_overwrite":"","_bates_seo_twitter_template":""},"categories":[4,11010,11009],"tags":[5709],"class_list":["post-167110","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academic-life","category-arts","category-the-college","tag-martin-luther-king-jr-day"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167110","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/148"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=167110"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167110\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":167209,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167110\/revisions\/167209"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/167175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=167110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=167110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=167110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"7\u20138pm](\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2025\/01\/250119_MLK_Day_Sunday_4339.webp\")
![\"7\u20138pm](\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2025\/01\/250119_MLK_Day_Sunday_3372.webp\")
![\"man](\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2025\/01\/250120_MLK_Morning_2146_3000.webp\")
![\"Assistant](\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2025\/01\/250120_MLK_Morning_2430.webp\")
![\"Martin](\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2025\/01\/250120_MLK_Morning_2481.webp\")
![\"Martin](\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2025\/01\/250120_MLK_Morning_2887.webp\")
![\"man](\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2025\/01\/250120_MLK_Black_Resistance_6562-copy.webp\")
![\"man](\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2025\/01\/250120_MLK_Black_Resistance_0066-copy.webp\")
![\"Professor](\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2025\/01\/IMG_9371.webp\")
![\"boy](\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2025\/01\/250120_MLK_Athletics_6826.webp\")
![\"January](\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2025\/01\/MLKDay_HonoringtheWaterLandandPeople_APL_07.webp\")
![\"January](\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2025\/01\/MLKDay_HonoringtheWaterLandandPeople_APL_17.webp\")
![\"January](\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2025\/01\/MLKDay_HonoringtheWaterLandandPeople_APL_23.webp\")
![\"Cal](\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2025\/01\/WhereDoesYourGriefSit-BCC-MLK25-SCW-14.webp\")
![\"woman](\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2025\/01\/250120_MLK_Reclaiming-_Public_Memory_7350-copy.webp\")
![\"Restorative](\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2025\/01\/250120_MLK_Afternoon_0403.webp\")
![\"Restorative](\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2025\/01\/250120_MLK_Afternoon_0565.webp\")
![\"January](\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2025\/01\/MLKDay_Screenprinting_APL_12.webp\")
![\"January](\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2025\/01\/MLKDay_Screenprinting_APL_07.webp\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"4:45pm](\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2025\/01\/250120_MLK_Afternoon_0735.webp\")
![\"4:45pm](\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2025\/01\/250120_MLK_Afternoon_1861.webp\")
![\"7](\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2025\/01\/MLK25-PerfomanceShowcase-BCC-SCW-49.webp\")