January 18, 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 18, 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 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.

___

*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 rights of people to equal treatment under the law. Civil can also refer to polite behavior. Explain the 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.” 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 the speech and read the text online by searching 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.

FREE Things to Do in NYC in January 2010

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.

Jan. 2, Sat. 5-11 pm. Celebrate New Year’s “Transformations” at Target Saturday at the

Brooklyn Museum, free art, music, dancing, and entertainment. 2 or 3 trains to Eastern Parkway/Brooklyn Museum right outside Museum entrance.

Jan. 16, Sat. 7pm. Peter and The Wolf, Knickerbocker Chamber Orchestra. Winter Garden in the World Financial Center (WFC) in Battery Park City bordered by West Street, the Hudson River, and Vesey and Liberty Streets. Any train to lower Manhattan: Cross West St. to the WFC at Vesey or walk along the Hudson River in Battery Park and enter at the Yacht Basin.

Jan. 18, 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.

photo of Pilobolus (credit: Robert Whitman) Jan. 20, Wed. 6pm. IMG Artists Dance performances by Pilobolus, Urban Bush Women, Shen Wei Dance and many others. Reservations at kmcdermott@imgartists.com. John Jay College G.W. Lynch Theater. 899 10^th Ave. @58^th St. 1/A/C/D trains to 59^th St. and Columbus Circle.

Jan. 20, Wed. 8pm. Julliard Jazz Ensemble, Julliard School, Paul Hall, 155 W. 65^th St. Limited free tickets available 1/6 at Julliard Box Office or take your chances later or on standby. 1 train to 66^th St., A/B/C/D to 59^th St./Columbus Circle and walk north to W. 65^th and

Broadway.

Thunderbird american indian dancers Jan. 23, Sat. 7-10pm, Thunderbird Indian Dancers and Singers (Hopi/Winnebago tribes), an evening of traditional social dancing, featuring the Heyna Second Sons Drum Group. National 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.

Jan. 24, Sun. 6pm and 29, Fri. 7:30pm. Mozart Piano Concerti, Manhattan School of Music Symphony Orchestra with Philippe Entremont conducting, John C. Borden Auditorium, 601 W. 122^nd St. near Broadway, 1 to 116^th and Broadway.

New Ice Rinks: Check school bulletin boards for information about new ice rinks such as City Ice Pavilion, a covered rink in Queens near Manhattan ($5-$8), and Battery Park City Ice, an outside rink with an ice path for skating around the outside of the 17,000 sq. foot rink ($10).

Updates and Announcements—Do you know that you can get free flu shots and other vaccinations through the NYC Department of Health? Or join a very inexpensive gym at NYC Department of Parks Recreation Centers? 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 things to do at www.sai.2000.org.