January 17, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”

We celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday on January 17, a national holiday. The Reverend Dr. King, Jr. was a black Civil Rights* leader and African-American minister. He called for the end of racial discrimination in the United States that treated black Americans like second-class citizens. He always advocated using non-violent means to bring about social change by leading civil* protests against discrimination.

Slavery was abolished in the United States in 1865 after a bitter Civil War between the Northern and Southern States. The Civil War ended slavery but not racial discrimination. Martin Luther King, Jr. thought of a free society as an integrated one in which all people had equal access to public places, to the vote, and to quality education, housing, and jobs.

Until the 1960s in the American South, black Americans were forced to sit in the back of public buses and to use “Negro” only restrooms and water fountains. They attended segregated schools. In 1956, Dr. King organized a 382-day boycott [a refusal to buy, sell, use, etc.] of public buses in Montgomery, Alabama. The boycott set the stage for a US Supreme Court decision declaring that segregation of blacks and whites on buses was unconstitutional. In 1964, the US Congress passed the Civil Rights Act guaranteeing equal rights in housing, public facilities, voting, and public schools.

Dr. King received the Nobel Peace Prize that year. Four years later, he was assassinated while leading a workers’ strike in Memphis, Tennessee. In 2008, 40 years after his death, Americans elected a black American president of the United States.

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*As used above, civil means “of a citizen or citizens” or “a community of citizens.” Civil rights refer to those rights guaranteed to the individual by the US Constitution and by Acts of Congress. They include the right to vote, exemption from involuntary servitude (slavery), and the right to equal treatment under the law. Civil can also refer to polite behavior. Explain the important relationship between : civil, civic, civilian, civility, & civilization.

King’s Philosophy and Practice of Non-Violence

Dr. King practiced non-violent protest to bring about social change. He believed that: “Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiples toughness in a descending spiral of destruction.” A powerful orator [speaker], on August 28, 1963, he delivered his famous I Have a Dream speech before more than 250,000 people in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington. The words under his picture above are from that speech. It ends:

“Let freedom ring . . . . Let freedom ring . . . . From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, When we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

Hear King’s delivery of that speech and read the text by searching online for “I have a dream.”

I, Too, Sing America by Langston Hughes (d. 1967)

I am the darker brother.

They send me to eat in the kitchen

When company comes . . . .

Tomorrow.

I’ll be at the table

When company comes.

Nobody’ll dare

Say to me,

“Eat in the kitchen,”

Then.

Besides,

They’ll see how beautiful I am

And be ashamed—

I, too, am America.

Happy New Year! Welcome the New Year on New Year’s eve in Times Square, in Prospect Park and Grand Army Plaza in Brooklyn, or in Central Park near 72^nd St. with free entertainment and fireworks.

FREE Things to Do in NYC January 2011

Fridays, 5:30-7:30pm. Free admission and live music at the American Folk Art Museum

45 W. 53^rd St. a short walk from the Institute or B/D/F/V to 47/50 St. Rockefeller Center.

A Song for the Horse Nation and other exhibits, Museum of the American Indian ,One Bowling Green in the US Customs House. Daily 10-5pm near northeast corner of Battery Park. 4/5 trains to Bowling Green, N/R to Whitehall, 1 to South Ferry.

Museum of the Moving Image (video, TV, movies, etc.) re-opens in Long Island City. Check website for free admission dates and travel directions.

Japan Fashion Now, and His and Hers, Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology to 5pm, closed Sun. and Mon., 7^th Ave. at 27^th St

Free Saturdays 11am-5pm at the Jewish Museum. Houdini. 1109 5^th Ave. at 92^nd St. 4,5,6 trains to 86^th and Lexington and walk west.

Jan. 2, Sun. 11am-6pm. Free admission all day at the Brooklyn Museum. Brooklyn Museum First Saturday, resumes on Feb. 5, 5-11pm. 2 or 3 trains to Eastern Parkway/Brooklyn Museum right outside Museum entrance.

Jan. 8, Sat. 9pm, Salongo, Brooklyn Academy of Music BAMCafe 30 Lafayette St., see school Bulletin Board or website for other free Fr and Sa night music and directions.

Jan. 15, Sat. 2:30pm, Sybarites5 the very modern chamber music group at the New York Public Library Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Amsterdam Ave. near 65^th St, 1 to Broadway and W. 66^th St., A,B,C,D to Columbus Circle and transfer to the 1 or walk north to W. 65^th St

Jan. 17, Mon. 6:30pm (arrive early for seats) Musicians and others celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. Symphony Space, 2537 Broadway at 95^th, 1/2/3 to 96^th St.

Jan. 27, Thurs 8:30. 75^th Anniversary of NYC’s Apollo Theater. Celebrate with jazz and comedy greats. Lincoln Center Rubenstein Atrium, Broadway at 62/63rd St.

Flu Shots and Other Vaccinations. NYC Department of Health has at least one free walk-in immunization clinic in each borough. With the start of winter, it is important to get your flu shot. Check the school bulletin boards or DOH website for up-to-date information.

Ice-Skating Skate indoors or out. Bring your own skates or rent. See Institute Bulletin Boards for information about outdoor and indoor ice rinks, including the free one near the school in Bryant Park in back of the NY Public Library between 5^th/6^th Ave. & 41^st/42^nd St.

Updates and Announcements—Do you know that you can join a very inexpensive gym and health club at one of the NYC Department of Parks Recreation Centers for $50-$75 a year? There are several in every borough. Or attend free concerts at NYC’s world famous music schools? Or visit NYC museums with free or pay what you wish admissions at certain times. Check out the bulletin boards in the Student Room or outside the Founder’s Room (Room 13) for updates, announcements and other useful information. Find back issues of the Student Club Newsletters with lots of other information about NYC’s neighborhoods and FREE things to do at www.sai.2000.org.