Celebrating the Life and Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King

Martin Luther King Day is not a holiday for Eaglebrook students and their teachers. Instead, it is a day where the community can celebrate the life of Dr. King and continue his legacy by addressing issues of social justice, diversity, and inclusion. Mr. Chris Brown ’01 began the day with an assembly detailing the harsh realities of slavery and being black in America, and how the life of Dr. King fit into that story. From there, students went to their regular classes, but each of their teachers had planned in advance to incorporate the topics of the day into their lessons.

 

Some examples from the day: Ms. Melnik’s music classes watched a video called “Let Freedom Sing: How Music Inspired the Civil Rights Movement” and then spent time in class discussing what they had learned. Mr. Russom’s art classes learned about Social Realism, the Harlem Renaissance, and pioneers of African American Art. In Academic Skills, Ms. Watroba had her students watch a documentary about Learning Differences to discuss diversity in learning styles and the prejudice that exists around those. Many science classes talked about The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks and the history of discrimination and informed consent in scientific research. Math classes studied income inequality and used the numbers to do a thorough analysis of what happens in the workforce to people of different genders and ethnicities.

 

The goal of the day was to highlight these issues as ongoing to the students. The day ended with advisor meetings where groups reflected on some big-theme questions about where we are today as a society versus where we were during Dr. King’s life. Watch a video of highlights from the day, and see photos of students in their classes.