The opening scene of this year’s Sankofa show, staged on the evening of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, was set in a classroom at mythical Mays College, the name being an intentional allusion to Benjamin Mays, Class of 1920.

Among the students in the class was Safiya, played by Imti Hassan ’23 of Portland, Maine. “Safiya is determined,” says Hassan. “She’s taking college courses at Mays College while being a high school senior. She has a lot of big dreams that I feel she will accomplish because she’s so driven.”

However, some adults in her life, such as her boss at a fast-food restaurant, are dragging her down. “Adults should be there to uplift teenagers and be their mentors,” says Hassan.

Video by Theophil Syslo.

The role was important to Hassan because, she says, she is a Somali American, a group that in Lewiston comprises approximately 20 percent of the city’s population.

“I have never seen a Somali lead character in theater, or movies, or shows,” says Hassan. “So for me, I wanted to have an opportunity to give other people a chance to see that type of character played out on a big stage.”

“Reality isn’t a one-way street. It’s multiple outlooks.”

Continuing the theme of sophomores taking the lead with Sankofa, Abdulwahab Mohamed ’22 of Lewiston was this year’s organizer, while Losseni Barry ’22 of New York City was the scriptwriter and director. The theme, “Invisible Women,” featured stories of women of color at �ֲ���ý and in Lewiston.

Areohn Harrison ’20 of Rockville, Md., plays a Mays College professor who leads his class in a wide-ranging discussion, starting with women in the civil rights movement and continuing to “how you assess value to a person in a society with varying levels of stratification based on race or gender.”

Areohn Harrison ’20 of Rockville, Md., playing a professor at mythical Mays College, leads his class in a discussion of race and gender during Sankofa’s 2020 MLK Day performance. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

Hassan notes how black women of the civil rights movement have been historically been “overshadowed, in a way, unfortunately. We know about Rosa Parks, but less about Ella Baker, Gwendolyn Simmons, or Doris Derby.”

“So this play is an opportunity to give another perspective, another lens for people to see, because reality isn’t a one-way street,” she says. “It’s multiple outlooks.”

“MLK Day is a day of empowerment for a lot of students,” says Losseni Barry ’22 of New York City. “It gives them the opportunity to speak about what they feel is important within the Black community, as well as within the �ֲ���ý community and Lewiston community.” 

Central to celebrating and exploring the relationship between �ֲ���ý and Lewiston on Martin Luther King Jr. Day is Sankofa. Now in its 10th year, the annual student-run performance, , explores the experiences of the African diaspora through theater, music, and dance.

Abdulwahab Mohamed ’22 of Lewiston is the organizer of Sankofa, while Barry wrote the script and directed the performance. The theme of the performance this year is “Invisible Women,” featuring the stories of women of color at �ֲ���ý and in Lewiston. 

The theme is particularly meaningful for Mohamed, who first saw a Sankofa performance as a high school student in Lewiston. 

Video by Theophil Syslo.

“The stories that go unheard are something I wanted to bring to light,” Mohamed says. He wants to “build that bridge between the Lewiston and �ֲ���ý communities, see the stories of each other, and debunk any false perceptions of each community.” 

It’s exciting for Barry, meanwhile, to see his classmates put their own interpretations on the script he wrote.

“This was an opportunity to work alongside my friend [Mohamed] and those here to give voice to those who don’t feel heard and make something meaningful on campus,” he says. 

Here’s how MLK Day 2016 looked — what was said and read, and what was acted, sung, and pondered — as the campus community and invited guests from near and far came together to work on the theme “Mass Incarceration and Black Citizenship.”

7:02 p.m., Jan. 17

The college’s MLK observance began with Sunday evening’s traditional MLK Memorial Worship Service in Gomes Chapel, which encompassed dance, music, and spoken word. The homily was delivered by the Rev. Peter Paris, author and professor emeritus of Christian social ethics at Princeton Theological Seminary.

(Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

(Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

(Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

(Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

(Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

8:20 a.m., Jan. 18

The day got an early start. Chris Petrella ’06, a doctoral candidate at the University of California, Berkeley, and Assistant Professor of Sociology Michael Rocque gave the day’s events and theme, “Mass Incarceration and Black Citizenship,” a solid foundation by presenting a whirlwind survey of pertinent issues.

Among the staggering facts and figures:

• By the end of 2014, nearly seven million Americans were subject to some sort of correctional supervision.
• The U.S. incarceration rate is the world’s highest. According to the , for every 100,000 people, the U.S. has 716 behind bars; the United Kingdom, 147; Canada, 118; and Norway, 72.
• From 1974 to 2014, the incarceration rate has skyrocketed — increasing fivefold.
• Convictions for drug offenses drove the increase. In 1980, federal prisons held some 4,700 individuals for drug offenses. In 2014, the number was 96,500.
• Racial disparities in imprisonment rates are striking. Just one white American out of 17 is likely to be imprisoned, while the rate is far higher among Latino men (one in six) and black men (one in three).
• One in 117 white women will be imprisoned vs. one in 45 Latina women and one in 18 black women.

In Gomes Chapel, just before the MLK Day keynote, Christopher Petrella ’06 discusses issues surrounding imprisonment. (Josh Kuckens/�ֲ���ý College)

8:55 a.m., Jan. 18

The MLK keynote session started with remarks by President Clayton Spencer:

Particularly relevant to our topic today, Michelle Alexander argues in The New Jim Crow that the mass incarceration of young men of color, initiated by the war on drugs and carried through to the jaw-dropping incarceration rates of today, is simply the latest move in a highly adaptive system of racial exclusion that extends back to the earliest history of the nation….

We have to ask ourselves: At �ֲ���ý, even with our storied history — no, especially with our storied history — in what ways do our very own culture, structures, unthinking ways, and even conscious ways marginalize students and others of color whom we invite to be here and promise full participation?

And what are we going to do about it?

From left, President Clayton Spencer, U.S. Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, Associate Professor of History Joe Hall, and MLK Day keynote speaker Jelani Cobb. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

9:21 a.m., Jan. 18

In his remarks, U.S. Sen. Angus King recalled the 1963 March on Washington:

Fifty-two years ago, Americans marched to Washington’s great National Mall. … Those people came to Washington drawn by a radical idea — an idea that’s at the heart of the American experience, an idea that was new to the world in 1776, tested in 1865, renewed in 1963, and an idea still new and radical today in much of the world.

That idea is that all men and women are created equal.

Fifty-two years ago at that sacred place, Americans sent a message to their leaders and to the world: that the promise of equality of opportunity, equality before the law, equality of the right to freely participate in the benefits and responsibilities of citizenship, apply to everyone in a country, not just the lucky few of the right color or accident of birth.

This is what Martin Luther King meant when he said that his dream was deeply rooted in the American dream.

U.S. Sen. Angus King speaks during the college’s MLK Day gathering in the Gomes Chapel. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

9:41 a.m., Jan. 18

In his keynote, Jelani Cobb includes an acutely personal example of racial double standards.

“I’m old enough to remember the scourge of heroin when it first emerged and was largely considered a drug problem among black and brown people,” he said. Cobb’s oldest brother became addicted to heroin while serving in Vietnam and died of an HIV infection contracted while he was using heroin.

The surge of heroin use among people of color was, in part, “the basis for the beginning of the ‘War on Drugs’ and the mass incarceration that has accompanied it,” Cobb said.

Today’s conversation about heroin use is “staggeringly different.”

Cobb compared that era with recent comments from New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. “He spoke movingly about ways in which drug abuse has ruined families and the ways in which it’s a cause for all of our sympathies and concerns.”

Hearing Christie’s remarks, Cobb noticed that today’s conversation about heroin use is “staggeringly different.” Now that heroin is a crisis “among young white people,” Cobb said, it’s curious that Christie did not say that “we should respond to this problem by locking more people up.”

Jelani Cobb delivers the MLK Day keynote in the Gomes Chapel. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

10:30 a.m., Jan. 18

The key question during a panel on “Global Accounts of State Violence and Identity” came from a student, and it came after we’d heard three senior anthropology majors talk about their thesis fieldwork, which, in each case, had brought them face to face with victims of trauma or physical violence.

The question: What’s it like to ask people questions about their grief, trauma, and pain? The answer, each senior said, is to focus on the person’s humanity.

Create spaces that allow kindness.

“You respond to the people as if one of your close friends had shared something difficult,” said Detmer Kremer of Nij Beets, Netherlands, who shared findings about the anti-refugee movement in the Netherlands and religious exclusion in Samoa.

“You provide opportunities to stop the interview, to halt the process, to create spaces that allow kindness to be part of the process.”

He was joined by Ashley Bryant of Medfield, Mass., who talked about anti-Muslim sentiment in American public schools, and Carly Peruccio of Manchester, Conn., who described women’s experiences during Morocco’s era of state-sponsored violence against dissidents, the “Years of Lead,” from the 1960s to 1980s.

A student listens to the panel discussion on “Global Accounts of State Violence and Identity.” (Phyllis Graber Jensen)

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10:31 a.m., Jan. 18

A poster in the “mouthpiece” display case announces the MLK Day theme.

(Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

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11:37 a.m. Jan. 18

“We are trying to make a change but we are the minority. We need you to pitch in as a community for the future generations. Whether you know it or not, you have the power to change the world, to make it safer for us people of color.”

With that statement, actor Mouamed M. broke the fourth wall in Schaeffer Theatre during the premiere of Something’s Wrong Here, a play written and performed by two youth groups, Maine Inside Out and the MLK Fellows.

A shift to “accountability and connection.”

Co-founded by Margot Fine ’03, Maine Inside Out collaborates with incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people to create and share original theater. The Maine Inside Out cast members of Something’s Wrong Here comprised current and former residents of the Long Creek Youth Development Center in South Portland.

“The goal is to shift from our current culture of punishment and isolation to one of accountability and connection,” explained Fine.

The MLK Fellows, sponsored by a Portland-based youth development program, contributed to the play by punctuating several scenes with original poetry, which elicited a cacophony of appreciative snaps from audience members, and reciting statistics on poverty levels, literacy rates, and the growing number of incarcerated people of color in Maine.

A scene from Something’s Wrong Here, performed on MLK Day. (Josh Kuckens/�ֲ���ý College)

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11:39 a.m., Jan. 18

Visitors from high schools along with participants in MLK Day events walk toward Commons for lunch.

(Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

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12:03 p.m., Jan. 18

A selection of images from workshops that brought �ֲ���ý people and guests together for discussion and thought:

• “Race, Gender, Sexuality, and the Criminalization of HIV/AIDS,” led by Professor of Rhetoric Charles Nero;
• “Power and Complacency in American Incarceration and Our Community,” led by the Stringfellow Coordinators of the Multifaith Chaplaincy;
• “International Criminal Court: A Step Toward Global Justice?” led by the Africana Club;
• “Should Environmentalists Also Be Prison Abolitionists?” led by environmental studies lecturer Ethan Miller ’00.

(Josh Kuckens/�ֲ���ý College)

(Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

(Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

(Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

(Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

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1:24 p.m. Jan. 18

Each MLK Day, several faculty, students, and staff read from texts that have inspired them. Here are brief video excerpts from six readings, in this order:

Jeremy Glover ’17 of Cleveland Heights, Ohio, reading from in Cleveland on April 26, 1967. “My mother was in attendance,” Glover said, “so it has a special importance in my life.”

Helene Sudac ’19 of Lake Forest, Ill., reading from “,” by James Baldwin (1962).

Caleb Perlman ’19 of Carlisle, Mass., reading from , by Thich Nhat Hahn (1995).

Joseph Hall, associate professor of history, reading from , by William Apes (1836).

Jessica Perez, assistant dean in Student Affairs, reading from , by Grace Lee Boggs (2011).

Jamil Drake, visiting assistant professor of religious studies, reading from King’s speech ,” delivered at New York City’s Riverside Church on April 4, 1967.

2:40 p.m., Jan. 18

At an MLK Day workshop exploring how �ֲ���ý is adopting principles and practices of restorative justice, there was no shame in holding a stuffed cow called Stuart while you spoke.

In fact, sans Stuart, you didn’t speak. Under the rules of a “restorative circle” exercise, you spoke only when the cow came to you. Otherwise, you practiced active listening.

The group put the concept into practice during the session by talking about the at U.S. colleges and universities.

Leading the exercise were Robert Ibarra ’17 of Los Angeles and Katie Stevenson ’17 of Ewing, N.J. They get plenty of practice: as Mediation and Restorative Justice Fellows in the Student Life office, they have been leading restorative circles and related exercises around campus this year.

Their hope is to teach the �ֲ���ý community that responding to student misconduct can focus on redressing harm rather than on punishment.

“Trust the circle.”

The other workshop leaders, Carl Steidel of the Student Affairs office and psychology professor Georgia Nigro, are establishing restorative justice as an alternative approach in student conduct proceedings.

The circular discussion and “talking piece,” aka Stuart, are key. They enable “people to get to the stuff that they need to get to,” Steidel said. “Trust the circle.”

(Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

4:03 p.m., Jan. 18

This year’s traditional Benjamin Mays Debate gave student debaters from �ֲ���ý and Morehouse a chance to argue the value of police reform vs. prison reform.

Morehouse sophomore Best Uchehara supported the Government position, in favor of police reform:

“Ethnic minorities of America have been robbed of justice. Beaten mercilessly at the hands of law enforcement officials who are supposed to be just. Burdened by frequent targeting and racial profiling. Berated, with an unjust reality that lies contrary to what is promised in the Constitution. We, on the side of the Government, believe that enough is enough. We need reform.”

Morehouse College sophomore debater Best Uchehara argues for police reform. (Josh Kuckens/�ֲ���ý College)

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4:25 p.m., Jan. 18

Michael Stone ’17 of Litchfield, N.H., and Keith Matier, a sophomore at Morehouse College, argued for prison reform.

Police are merely “gatekeepers” of the criminal justice system, said Stone. Solving mass incarceration means rehabilitating prisoners and reducing the stigma they face when they return to society. Ultimately, reform would mean lower poverty rates and greater employment.

Without reform, said Matier, being imprisoned will continue to create less-productive Americans. “When I see a prison…I say, ‘That is a place I do not want to go because I’m going to be relegated to social, economic, and political inferiority.”

Michael Stone ’17 of Litchfield, N.H., and Keith Matier, a sophomore at Morehouse College, discuss strategy to counter the Government’s position. (Josh Kuckens/�ֲ���ý College)

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7:38 p.m., Jan. 18

An annual expression of pride and accomplishment for members of the African diaspora at �ֲ���ý, this year’s edition of Sankofa on MLK Day shared experiences of Afro-women internationally, linked by the theme of storytelling and friendship.

(Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

(Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

(Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

(Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

A scene from Sankofa's 2016 MLK Day performance. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

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1:48 p.m., Jan. 19

The day after MLK Day, Adam Blau ’18 of Pacific Palisades, Calif., and James Reese, longtime dean in Student Affairs who is a founder of the college’s MLK Day tradition, were among volunteers who read to Lewiston schoolchildren at the Martel School during the annual MLK Read-In.

(Josh Kuckens/�ֲ���ý College)

(Josh Kuckens/�ֲ���ý College)

(Josh Kuckens/�ֲ���ý College)

Reporting by Leanne Ouimet, Doug Hubley, and Jay Burns.

Martin Luther King Jr. is shown at the White House after meeting with President Lyndon Johnson to discuss civil rights, 1963. Photograph by Warren K. Leffler/U.S. News & World Report Magazine Photograph Collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

Spotlighting a less-known aspect of the work of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., �ֲ���ý College will dedicate its Jan. 20-21 King Day programming to exploring issues of financial inequality and debt.

The theme of the observances is Debt and Inequality: The Relevance of King’s Forgotten Economic Message.

Never out of date, the question of financial inequality is especially pertinent now, given a national election season and “fiscal cliff” debate in which issues of economic fairness have been central.

Anthea Butler, associate professor of religious studies and African American studies at the University of Pennsylvania, offers a sermon and the keynote address at �ֲ���ý’ Martin Luther King Jr. Day observances. Photograph by Byron Maldonado.

Taking place Sunday and Monday, Jan. 20-21, �ֲ���ý’ programming features films; workshops; two addresses by Anthea Butler, a theologian whose forthcoming book explores the connection between Sarah Palin’s politics and her religion; and performances including one by the �ֲ���ý student group Sankofa.

Sunday’s events include documentary films examining issues of corporate power and civil rights history, as well as the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Service, featuring a sermon by Butler titled God and the 99 Percent.

On Monday the college presents Martin Luther King Jr. and America’s Bad Check: America’s Poor in the 21st Century, Butler’s keynote address; a debate between �ֲ���ý and Morehouse College students; a play; workshops; and the Sankofa event.

• See a complete schedule of King Day programming at �ֲ���ý.
• .
• Learn more about Anthea Butler.
• Learn more about Sankofa.
  

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All King Day events are open to the public at no cost, but a few do require tickets for admission; see the complete schedule for details. For more information, please call 207-786-6400.

In selecting this year’s theme, “we wanted to call attention to the fact that the Rev. Dr. King’s vision included economic justice,” explains Charles Nero, chair of the college’s King Day committee and a professor of rhetoric and American cultural studies.

“The people hit hard in the Great Recession have been middle- and working-class folks, the poor and people without substantial assets, such as students.”

The 2012 Sankofa performance at �ֲ���ý. Photograph by Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College.

King, who at the time of his assassination was planning a “Poor People’s Campaign” that would march on Washington, D.C., had a clear view of the interrelatedness of poverty and injustice.

But, as , “Many never learned about King’s crusade for a guaranteed annual income or have forgotten he was assassinated while supporting the working poor — sanitation workers on strike [in Memphis] because of low wages and dangerous working conditions.”

For the public at large, King Day at �ֲ���ý will provide “the opportunity to see a college community engage with a major social issue of our time,” says Nero.

“Our keynote speaker, Dr. Butler, will challenge us in new ways to recommit ourselves to King’s vision of economic justice. Our debate with Morehouse College addresses the issue of the role the government should play in reducing poverty.” And the films and workshops, as well as Aaron Calafato’s play about student loan debt, will address myriad dimensions of financial justice in the U.S. and abroad.

Rob Little ’12 takes a behind-the-scenes look at the recent Sankofa production of “A Journey of Our Own,” a cross-cultural exploration of blackness within African diasporic experiences through performative arts such as dance, music, theater and spoken word. The production was part of the 2012 Martin Luther King Jr. observance at �ֲ���ý.

Sankofa performs during Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2011.

The theme for 2012 King Day programming at �ֲ���ý is Environmental Justice: Martin Luther King’s Unfinished Agenda. Here’s a schedule, updated Jan. 12, of events related to the observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Jan. 16, 2012. A breakdown of the afternoon workshops appears here. For more information, please call 207-786-6400:

red, black & GREEN: a blues: Performer-activist-educator Marc Bamuthi Joseph presents a staged reading of his multimedia performance piece.
7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 13, Olin Concert Hall, 75 Russell St.

The Greenhorns: A film detailing the spirit, practices and challenges of America’s young farming community (2010; 40 min.). Presented by the �ֲ���ý Environmental Film Festival.
4 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 14, Chase Lounge, 56 Campus Ave.

Gasland: Director Josh Fox screens his film revealing the environmental damage caused by the natural gas mining practice called “fracking” (2010; 107 min.). Presented by the �ֲ���ý Environmental Film Festival.
3 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 15, Olin Concert Hall, 75 Russell St.

Julian Agyeman, a pioneering environmental justice and sustainability advocate, offers the homily for the college’s annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day Memorial Service of Worship.
7 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 15, College Chapel, 275 College St. FMI 207-786-8272.

The following all take place Monday, Jan. 16, 2012:

Julian Agyeman ���������������The Dream Lives on: Towards a ‘Just’ Sustainability, the keynote address for Martin Luther King Jr. Day observances.
9:30 a.m. College Chapel, 275 College St.

Concurrent breakout sessions explore options for activism following the keynote address.
11 a.m., rooms TBA, Hedge Hall, 7 Andrews Road (Alumni Walk).

Debaters from Morehouse and �ֲ���ý colleges address the resolution “Environmental sustainability and social equality are incompatible.” .
1 p.m., Olin Concert Hall, 75 Russell St.

Concurrent workshop sessions explore topics related to the day’s theme.
2:30 & 3:45 p.m., various locations

A Journey of Our Own: A performance by Sankofa, a �ֲ���ý student group exploring cross-cultural blackness within African diasporic experiences through performative arts like dance, music, theater and spoken word. .
7:30 p.m., Schaeffer Theatre, 305 College St.

Professor Julian Agyeman. Photograph by Kelvin Ma, Tufts University.

Julian Agyeman, Ph.D., FRSA, a pioneering environmental justice and sustainability advocate, offers the keynote address during Martin Luther King Jr. Day observances at �ֲ���ý College at 9:30 a.m. Monday, Jan. 16, in the College Chapel, 275 College St.

His keynote address at �ֲ���ý is titled The Dream Lives on: Towards a ‘Just’ Sustainability.

Martin Luther King Weekend events at �ֲ���ý also include a spoken-word piece by performer-activist Marc Bamuthi Joseph on Friday, Jan. 13, an environmental film festival during the weekend, and a performance by the �ֲ���ý student ensemble Sankofa during the evening of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

See the schedule of Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Weekend events.

The theme for 2012 King Day programming at �ֲ���ý is Environmental Justice: Martin Luther King’s Unfinished Agenda. Events on Jan. 16 include a student debate and workshops that explore the Unfinished Agenda theme during the day, and a performance in the evening by the student ensemble . Related events take place Jan. 13-15.

More event information appears below. A complete schedule will be published in January. King Day events at �ֲ���ý are open to the public at no cost. For more information, please call 207-786-6400.

A college with a bold commitment to equality and social justice rooted in its very founding, prior to the Civil War, �ֲ���ý has long been distinctive in its observances of the King holiday. Regular classes are canceled and the entire campus turns its attention to issues around civil rights, social justice and King’s legacy.

The 2012 King Day events extend an emphasis on environmental justice at �ֲ���ý during this academic year. For the King Day programming, “we chose this Unfinished Agenda theme because we believe that Dr. King would have been an advocate for environmental justice,” says Charles Nero, chair of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Planning Committee and professor of rhetoric and African American studies.

“The committee has worked really hard for almost a year to put this program together. We are especially happy that the workshops include much interdisciplinary effort.”

Professor and chair of urban and environmental policy and planning at Tufts University, Agyeman is known as the co-originator with Robert D. Bullard and Bob Evans of “just sustainabilities,” a concept espousing the need to ensure a better quality of life for all, now and into the future, in a just and equitable manner, while living within the limits of supporting ecosystems.

More about Julian Agyeman.

Agyeman speaks twice at �ֲ���ý. In addition to Monday’s keynote, he offers the homily for the college’s annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day Memorial Service of Worship at 7 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 15, in the �ֲ���ý College Chapel, 275 College St. To learn more about this service, please call 207-786-8272.

Following the keynote, concurrent breakout sessions take place at 11 a.m. in rooms to be announced in Hedge Hall, 7 Andrews Road (Alumni Walk). Concurrent workshop sessions are scheduled for 2:30 and 3:45 p.m. in Pettengill Hall, 4 Andrews Road.

The breakout sessions and workshops have slightly different formats, Nero explains. “The breakouts provide an opportunity to reflect on the keynote address and to focus on and develop activist strategies based upon it.

“The workshops allow students, faculty, staff, alumni and community members to focus on more specific topics related to sustainability and justice.”

Culminating the college’s Jan. 17 observances of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, students used music, dance, poetry and prose to survey the vast landscape of the African diaspora, and their own diverse backgrounds, in an evening performance in Schaeffer Theatre.

Titled Sankofa, a term from Ghana’s Akan language referring to the idea of going back for what you have forgotten, the show emphasized the importance of remembering the past in order to appreciate the present and improve the future.

David Longdon ’14 performs as Osei Tutu in a tribute to leaders of countries and movements across the African Diaspora. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

Reflecting the concept “Get Up, Stand Up: The Fierce Urgency of Now” — the theme for this year’s MLK Day programming at �ֲ���ý — the performers captivated audience members with their talent, pride and intensity.

Fellow students, faculty and townspeople including members of the local Somali community filled the theater. The production, the first of its kind, drew hoots and hollers, laughter and tears from the audience.

The production featured emotional readings, striking dance and uplifting music, displaying the talents of students from myriad backgrounds and disciplines. Directed by Linda Kugblenu ’13 of New York City and produced by Cynthia Alexandre-Brutus of Brooklyn, N.Y., the production was as much a lesson in history and culture as entertainment.

Omosede Eholor ’14 (left) of New York City and Brittney Davis ’14 of Chicago perform Alexandre-Brutus’ adaption of Sojourner Truth’s speech “Ain’t I A Woman?” during the Sankofa presentation on Jan. 17, 2011.  (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

In one piece, first-years Omosede Eholor of New York City and Brittney Davis of Chicago performed Alexandre-Brutus’ adaption of Sojourner Truth’s speech “Ain’t I A Woman?”

Rendered as a dialogue, the scene juxtaposed the inequalities facing black women in the 18th and 19th centuries with the modern context, a contrast heightened by stage lighting and costumes.

In “Four Blast From the Past,” four performers portrayed liberation movement leaders from across Africa. Raina Jacques ’13 portrayed Yaa AsanteWaa, queen mother of the Asante confederacy. She vehemently delivered the speech that stirred the men of the community to fight against British colonial domination and proclaimed that she would call upon her fellow women to get their king back.

Jourdan Fanning ’13 performs an excerpt from Martin Luther King Jr.’s renowned “I Have a Dream” speech. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

’14 presented Wangari Maathai, the contemporary Kenyan environmental and political activist, proclaiming the threats to the forests by her own government.

The Rev. King was honored as Jourdan Fanning ’13 performed an excerpt from his renowned “I Have a Dream” speech, expressing a fierce exigency of the need to remember the injustices the civil rights movement has fought to surmount.

The program also included dance in a variety of genres, from traditional Ghanian dance to a sampler of Caribbean styles to step dance performed by the college’s Dynasty team.

Ashley Booker ’12 of New York City performs during the poetry slam portion of the Sankofa presentation on Jan. 17, 2011. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

Five students took part in a poetry slam, while another a piece honored the local Somali community with the piece “I Am a Somali.” �ֲ���ý’ own Gospelaires, a relatively recent addition to the college’s robust singing scene, offered the spiritual “Oh Freedom is Coming.” And an intermission gave the audience a chance to share their impressions.

The show stimulated the emotions with powerful performances that highlighted the diversity of �ֲ���ý students. The standing ovation that closed the show expressed both admiration for the troupe and an entreaty for an encore next year.

The 2011 Sankofa performance featured music, dance, poetry and prose to survey the vast landscape of the African diaspora. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

Here’s a detailed schedule of events for the 2011 Martin Luther King Jr. Day observances at �ֲ���ý College. All these events are open to the public at no cost. For more information, please call 207-786-6400.

Sunday, Jan. 16

The annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day Memorial Service of Worship takes place at 7 p.m. Sunday in the �ֲ���ý College Chapel, 275 College St. The Rev. James Lawson, a definitive figure in the civil rights movement of the 1950s and ’60s, offers the sermon. Also featured is music by two student ensembles, the Gospelaires and the a cappella Crosstones, as well as a liturgical dance by the troupe Justified. To learn more, please call 207-786-8272.

Monday, Jan. 17

At 9:30 a.m., Lawson presents the first keynote address of the college’s MLK Day events in the Olin Arts Center Concert Hall, 75 Russell St. His topic: the continued importance of direct action and social justice in the 21st century.

In the first of two breakout sessions in Pettengill Hall (rooms TBA; 4 Andrews Road), starting at 11 a.m., members of the campus community discuss ideas presented in Lawson’s keynote address and plan for future activism.

Members of the debate teams from Morehouse and �ֲ���ý colleges, joined by local high school debaters, address the resolution that “Violence is a justified response to political oppression” in a debate at 1 p.m. in the Benjamin Mays Center, 95 Russell St.

For the second keynote address, Asher Kolieboi, LGBTQ community coordinator in the Multicultural Resource Center at Oberlin College, examines challenges for social activists in 21st-century American culture. He speaks at 2:30 p.m. in the Olin Arts Center Concert Hall.

Another round of breakout sessions pondering Kolieboi’s remarks begins at 3:30 p.m. in Pettengill Hall.

Exploration of the day’s theme concludes with a plenary discussion with Lawson and Kolieboi at 4:30 p.m. in Pettengill Hall (room TBA).

�ֲ���ý students present the performance Sankofa, a celebration of the African diasporic experience through theater, music, dance and spoken word, at 7:30 p.m. in Schaeffer Theatre, 305 College St.

Tuesday, Jan. 18

, the renowned actress, storyteller and social justice activist, offers a Noonday Concert Series performance in conjunction with the King Day observances at 12:30 p.m. in the Olin Arts Center Concert Hall. For more information, please contact 207-786-6135 or olinarts@bates.edu.

Thursday, Jan. 20

Vinie Burrows (see previous item) returns to perform her acclaimed solo show Walk Together Children, a chronicle of the African American experience, at 7 p.m. in Schaeffer Theatre, 305 College St. A question-and-answer session follows. Though this event is open to the public at no cost, tickets are required. For tickets and more information, please call 207-786-6161.