In preparation for Martin Luther King Jr. Day (MLK Day), students were allowed to propose an MLK Day workshop that explored topics relating to justice, identity, and social issues. Led by students, faculty, and external guests, these workshops will be open to Uppers, Seniors, and Post-Graduates on MLK Day after All-School Meeting (ASM).
With all applications due on December 3, the Community and Multicultural Development Office (CaMD) aims to announce this year’s workshop offerings by the end of this week, according to Charlotte Esty, Coordinator of CaMD. Throughout the application process, all applicants received guidance from a CaMD point person when writing their proposals. Esty described the key qualities that the CaMD team looks for in workshop proposals.
“Preliminary research is really important, the very basic [things]: factual accuracy, connection to [diversity, equity, and inclusion and justice]. More broadly, we look for a diversity of topics as we go through. We’ll try and make sure that we have representation from each of our affinity groups and culture clubs, and that there’s a good balance in our offerings so that everyone can feel like they have something that’s for them, that they’re excited about, and so they can see themselves represented within what we’re putting together in that curriculum,” said Esty.
Esty noted a significant increase in the submitted workshop applications over the last few years. According to Esty, CaMD received over 30 workshop applications this year. She attributed this trend to the pandemic and other major social changes that have taken place in recent years.
“There’s been a big boom in the number of applications that we’ve been getting… Within the past three years, following the racial reckoning in 2020, following Covid[-19] where people are holed up and isolated, there’s just been this resurgence of [people] getting involved in activism. There’s [also] a sense of pride, I feel, connected to both of these kinds of projects. It’s been really exciting to see students supporting one another, really showing up for all these events,” said Esty.
Having helped facilitate a workshop on environmental justice for the past two years, Suhaila Cotton ’24, Co-President of the Black Student Union (BSU), enjoyed how MLK Day workshops allow students to pursue topics important to them. Cotton shared her workshop proposal for the upcoming MLK Day.
“The purpose of these workshops is to give students a chance to talk about something that’s important to them and to be able to teach that to others. Also, because the civil rights movement is so broad and vast, it’s impacted all movements and all social forms of life in the U.S. and even abroad. I really like the workshops because it gives us all a chance to use our perspectives and unique backgrounds to teach people about [something we care about],” said Cotton.
Cotton continued, “This year, I’m working with BSU. We’re hoping to run a [workshop taking] a generational look at the Black movement. We’re going to be talking about the history of civil rights through the perspective of the adults and the youth who led it, and also the new generation of Black leaders, so current leaders. Then [there’s] a discussion on what our place is in this fight.”
Another applicant this year, Brandon Fu ’25 hopes to continue the workshop on jazz history that he facilitated last year with Jacob Kaiser ’24 and Zoe Yu ’23. He emphasized how MLK Day workshops serve as an opportunity to educate his peers on specific aspects of Black history.
“Generally, the learning element and having [MLK Day] be a day on is very useful, not only to our conceptual understanding of who Martin Luther King Jr. was and how he has so deeply impacted the nation, but also general learning as well. I know a lot of people didn’t know the intricacies of jazz music, and I know there [are] people saying that it’s just wrong notes that sound slightly right, but it was cool to change minds, turn some heads and really educate some people on the music that I love, [and] that Jacob loves,” said Fu.
Tulah Jefferson ’24, Co-President of Curly Hair Club and Senior Coordinator for the Afro Latinx American Society (AfLatAm) Mentoring Program, held a workshop last year on the history of Black hair along with other students. Addressing the misconception that applicants must be closely involved with CaMD, Jefferson encouraged all students to apply.
“Make sure you’re passionate about something, and if you’re really eager for someone to learn about something, you should definitely apply… People think that only people super involved in CaMD can participate in an MLK workshop, but it’s open to anyone, so if you have something about your culture that you want to share, I think [MLK day] is a great time and a great platform to do that,” said Jefferson.
