Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2021
For the last two years here at NAC we have celebrated the life of Martin Luther King Jr through a celebration of his civil disobedience and activism as well as through learning about Black art and culture. We wish so much that we could celebrate with all of you this year! However, though we can’t gather together to teach and learn about anti-racism, the power of protest, Black artists, and what it means to belong to a community, we wanted to provide ways you can celebrate and learn about Martin Luther King Jr., his continuing legacy, and America’s continuing fight against racism at home with your family!
Firstly, if you missed celebrating with us the past two years, here is a rundown of activities the community participated in at our MLK day events!
In 2019 we celebrated Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. by writing letters to our local leaders about changes we want to see in the world, writing down the dreams we had for our community, and making pins with quotes from Dr. King’s speeches. We also usually play a Reading Rainbow MLK day episode, but it is no longer online, so instead you can listen to our favorite MLK day song, Ballad of Martin Luther King by Pete Seeger & Brother Kirk from our very favorite Sesame Street album!
One of the most important goals we have at Neighborhood Art Center is to be a place where parents and kids can interact with each other and, using art, encounter difficult topics and ask hard questions. We were so happy to see so many families having thoughtful conversations about the civil rights movement, segregation, and how that history carries through to today and how we can be active participants in the political process and fight for the same values Martin Luther King Jr. did.
In 2020 we focused on Black artists and how they use different mediums to celebrate their culture, protest racism and segregation, and fight for their rights. We made pins like the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), created a community quilt like the women of Gee’s Bend, Alabama, and screen printed protest posters like Barbara Jones-Hogu. Below you will find the posters we had at each station.
Though we don’t expect you to have a button maker or screen printing supplies your family can talk about the Black experience in America, the challenges they still face, and the responsibility of white people to step up, acknowledge their privileges, and use their power to help those who don’t have a voice. Use fabric or paper scraps to make a quilt like the women of Gee’s Bend, use the SNCC button designs to make posters to hang in your home, make collage art like Barbara Jones-Hogu and talk about the meaning behind forms, colors, and words in her art.
This year, 2021, we unfortunately can’t have everyone together in our studio so we are handing out kits on Monday, January 18th in front of Pioneer Book in Provo, UT. These are in limited supply and we know everyone who follows us doesn’t live in or around Provo, so we are including everything that is in the kit on this post as well!
Included in the kit are tiny protest signs that kids can write their own protest slogan on — something they care deeply about or would have had on their sign if they were at the March on Washington. You can make your own at home with a piece of paper and a popsicle stick or a pencil or anything else you can make into a handle!
We also included stamped postcards which you can print off here to send to your local representatives to tell them how you want the world to change to become more like what Dr. King fought for.
Lastly we put a small piece of seed paper in the kits so kids can write down their dream of making the world a better place and then plant it so that every time they see their plants growing they can think about the actions they are taking every day to make those dreams real. Making your own paper is surprisingly easy if you have a blender — you can find a tutorial of how to do it here!
So much has happened in the past year that children may have seen on the news that can be scary or confusing. Talking about racism and privilege might be difficult but it is a necessary conversation — especially if you are white. The Conscious Kid is a great resource to look to if you are having a hard time figuring out how to have these difficult conversations in your family, they have so many ideas about how to counter anti-Black bias and racism at an early age, and they have a list of children’s books that can help kids with the language and framework needed
We so strongly believe in taking concrete action and teaching children to be better than the generation before them and to take concrete action to learn about the history of whiteness and how it has contributed to the present, and to make the world a better and more equitable place — the type of world Martin Luther King Jr. and so many other civil rights leaders fought to make possible.
So, this MLK day, look back on our previous events and adapt them to fit your family. Go to your local library and find books about Dr. King and other civil rights leaders and have those important conversations about race as a family. If you can, come pick up a kit to work on together, we would love to see you!
