Phillips Academy students can thank two people for observance of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day—Martin Luther King, Jr. and Brian Gittens ’89. On January 15, 1989, Gittens boycotted his Andover classes to protest mandatory classes on the newly established holiday honoring Martin Luther King, Jr. In his protest, Gittens sat on the steps of Samuel Phillips Hall and played excerpts from King’s “I Have a Dream” speech on a portable stereo. According to Ruth Quattlebaum, School Archivist, Andover had observed MLK Day with a memorial service for a few years before 1989. But that was not enough for Gittens. According to a Phillipian article from January 20, 1989, Gittens began his morning alone on the steps of SamPhil and worried that no one would come. Students, faculty and even entire classes slowly joined him. Gittens’s protest was a success. The next year, Phillips Academy cancelled classes on MLK Day and scheduled workshops in their place. Rebecca Sykes, Associate Head of School, said, “I think that [the administration was] pretty supportive of his demonstration.” According to Sykes, the school did not take any disciplinary action against Gittens although he had missed a day of classes. “I believe that some of his teachers actually excused him from class,” said Sykes. Seth Bardo, Instructor in English, was one of the teachers who brought his classes to protest with Gittens, and he has retold the story of the boycott on every MLK Day since. Bardo said, “I want [students] to realize how much untapped power they have. [Gittens’s protest] was a great example of how a kid with a moral imperative shamed the school to do the right thing.” Sykes, who knew Gittens, said, “[Gittens was] very thoughtful and passionate about the things that he believed. I think he was a young man of strong convictions.” Anthony Rotundo, Instructor in History, said, “[Gittens’s boycott] was an extraordinary and dramatic gesture. It was brilliant for him to commit an act of civil disobedience in a very public way and a truly galvanizing moment.” Quattlebaum said that cancelling a day of classes was a significant change for Phillips Academy. “Anytime PA cancels or changes classes is a big deal to faculty, and change comes very slowly to institutions like PA,” said Quattlebaum. She continued, “Change takes a catalyst, especially a change that would affect the academic schedule. Gittens and Af-Lat-Am acted as that catalyst.” Rotundo said, “[Gittens] forced the community to think about the day and why we weren’t celebrating it.” According to Linda Carter Griffith, Dean of CAMD and Instructor in English, Andover only had a minority counselor to support underrepresented students in the 1980s. “The reason the minority counselor position did happen was because some underrepresented students wrote a letter to the administration,” said Griffith. Phillips Academy formed CAMD soon afterwards. Quattlebaum said, “Racial diversity became a major concern for PA starting in the late 60s. Increasing the population of students of color was a priority [for the school]. It was a gradual increase.” There have been few recent protests and Andover, said Quattlebaum. Students held boycotts in the 1960s, which corresponded with the rise of anti-war protests during the Vietnam War. “PA is not a hot bed of radicalism. There is not as much dissatisfaction as in the 60s,” said Quattlebaum. Students have called for change at Andover in forms other than protest, though. A group of African American students wrote to the headmaster in the 1970s to request more culturally relevant courses, according to Quattlebaum. “There was no black history and no black literature. [The students] moved to get an African American history course and more black literature in English. They were successful,” said Quattlebaum. Gittens’s protest will not soon be forgotten. Rotundo said, “It was the single most extraordinary thing I’ve seen kids do here.” Bardo continues to attribute Phillips Academy’s celebration of MLK Day to Gittens. Bardo said, “If [Gittens] had not acted, who knows when we would have started celebrating the day?” Gittens could not be reached for comment.
