Spring Prep in Nature and in Life

 DUKES FANS:

‘Spring is sooner recognized by plants than by men”

                           Chinese proverb

 

“Springtime is the land awakening. The March winds are its morning yawn.”    

                              Lewis Grizzard

 

  Walking in Mt. Airy and Chestnut Hill these last two weeks has been very interesting and invigorating. There has been an air of expectancy along Germantown Ave. as more and more people have been out and about. The weather has been a big part of it, of course. We have had days in the 60’s and 70’s that brought everyone out of their homes and onto the streets. And we have also had day like today which have started near freezing but by mid-day are in the 40’s and 50’s. Despite the occasional days of temperatures in the 30’s for an entire day, we are in the midst of seasonal change now, and for most of us that is a most wonderful thing. Even though we have not had the miseries of winter to the extent that many places along the East Coast have had this year, we still had winter. And for many of us the official calendrical end of that season is a cause for rejoicing.

 

    The calendar says that spring arrives on Wednesday, March 20^th at approximately 4:58 PM. That is true; this is the astrologic and calendar time when the vernal equinox happens. The sun shines directly on the equator, the length of day and night are about equal, and what we call “spring” is officially here. But there is also another time for spring, and we have been in the midst of it for a little while. We have had clear hints of spring well before the equinox; that is what stoked our expectancy a few weeks ago. On many of the lawns in Mt. Airy and Chestnut Hill daffodils and snowdrops have been pushing up their shoots and quietly making their appearances for at least the last two weeks. Purple, white and yellow crocuses have been adding color to fronts of houses and backyards. Little red buds have been visible on the many cherry trees in the city. Robins, mourning doves, house wrens, and chickadees are back at the feeders and in the trees. The cardinals, who have been around all winter, are now pairing up and singing their songs more loudly and boldly in the early morning. We look up and there are more and more hours of sunlight, and the average temperature for the week has been above freezing. This has been going on in the Northern Hemisphere for several weeks now, and it is what is called, “meteorological” spring. And it always arrives before the calendarial spring.

    Weatherpeople and climatologists check temperature averages and climatic conditions and use those as a guide to when a season begins and ends. When a level of consistency in these conditions arrives, we have, according to them, started a new season.  To them it has been spring for a few weeks now. For them the climatic reality in our Northern Hemisphere has already started that time of rebirth and renewal-the time when the earth says, “Lets go through this again.” Our landscapes and surroundings have already started being born again. We have been waiting for the calendar to catch up.

   For most of human history this time has been the start of the new year. Spring is when the earth seems to come back to life and everything around us is being reborn and/or remerging. The whole universe seems to 'start over” with animals emerging from hibernation, moving into different locations for a while, and mating. It’s a time when flowers, plants, and potential crops reappear, and the ground seems aching to be fertilized. It is a time for rebirth on a massive scale, and it is inevitable and unavoidable. We as humans are a part of that universe, so we also say, “Let's start again; let’s begin anew.” It is a time when “possibility” lives again; we can even imagine doing it a little bit better this time. In culture after culture all around the world we humans embrace this time in the age-old way we acknowledge anything that is important to us; we do it symbolically. We participate in many religious observances and rituals which focus on stories of rebirth and renewal at this time, whether it is Christianity’s Easter, Judaism’s Passover, the Persian house cleaning and fire jumping ritual of Noruz, or the Chinese dancing in lion masks to scare away bad spirits that may have moved into the house in winter. We do it culturally as well. We literally “clean house,” often redecorating, getting the garden ready, and sweeping out the old and letting in the new. We change our wardrobes, buying new clothes and wearing fabrics that have a lighter color scheme. We paint the house, plant gardens, and more. Humans have to acknowledge the changes in the universe, and we have to do things to show that we acknowledge them. And just as it is in nature, this buildup to the main event is as important as the main event itself.

   Nature is in part, a process or series of processes. It is not as if on March 19^th nothing is happening and then suddenly, “BANG” spring is here. Spring is the result of dozens of steps-smaller occurrences and changes that lead to or result in the big event. The meteorological spring can be looked at as Nature’s way of “prep’– of the universe building up to and taking steps towards the big event.  That crocus on the lawn, the loudly singing cardinals, the budding cherry trees; these can be looked at as Nature’s prepping for the big event and giving us a hint of what is to come. They are nature’s “Trailers” or “Coming Attractions” Likewise, the rituals we humans do to celebrate spring are generally not single day or single event affairs. They are a series of steps and events leading up to the major event.  Easter and Passover, for example, have steps and actions that precede the actual event, and they happen over a period of time. Like Nature we move toward our main events. Most of them are simultaneously results of what has gone before as well as indicators of what is to come.

   So spring is here now. We can savor and enjoy the increased hours of sunlight, the gradually increasing temperatures, and the re-coming to life of lawns, gardens, woods and more. The cycle is continuing, and we humans work to find our place within it. I hope that for all of us it is a celebration of life and of looking toward a more hopeful future. For me, that is one of the promises of each spring and each of the rituals connected to it. We can endeavor to make some changes, learn some new things, find some improvements, and maybe even do better this time around. To me that is a huge part of what is about: hope, becoming, and possibility. Enjoy the season.

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UPDATE: Black History Month and Children's Books

Black History and the New World of Children’s Books

DUKES OF DESTINY·WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 201939 Reads

DUKES FANS “Never be limited by other people’s limited imaginations.” Dr. Mae Jemison, first African-American female astronaut

"We should emphasize not Negro History but the Negro in history. What we need is not histories of selected people or nations but the history of the world void of national bias, race hate, and religious prejudice." Historian Carter G. Woodson, 1926, father of Negro History Week,now Black History Month "Books Saved My Life" Saying on T-Shirt sold at Uncle Bobbie's coffeeshop in Germantown

One of the things that I have been doing since I retired from teaching is serving as a volunteer librarian at a local public elementary school. Penny, my late wife, established the program at this school in 2015 when we both retired, and it involves some 18 or so retired teachers and educators who spend 4 mornings a week reading books to students, helping them choose and take books out for their own pleasure, helping them with research projects, and more. There are many reasons I love doing this, but one of the biggest is that I get to discover, read, and share with the kids books that I could not have imagined existing when I was their age-or even older. The world of children's books is undergoing a major change, and the volunteering puts me in touch with that. When I was in elementary school in the 1950's there were no reading books that featured people who were remotely familiar to me or who lived in neighborhoods such as mine. There were lily-white Dick and Jane and their dog, Spot, and houses with picket fences around them. During history time we rarely mentioned people who looked like me except in discussions of slavery in the South, George Washington Carver and the peanut, Langston Hughes' poetry, and one or two other Negroes, as we were then called. Now I was not ignorant about or unaware of the accomplishments of blacks in the US; my family subscribed to the Philadelphia Tribune newspaper as well as Jet and Ebony magazines, and we frequently discussed issues of civil rights, as the Movement was growing through the 50's and 60's, both in strength and news coverage. Public schools at that time, though, did not pay much attention to dark skinned people except in some limited and/or stereotyped ways. While we were not totally invisible, we were in no way fully "there." Fortunately, there were public libraries and I loved to haunt their stacks. Those places had books about a wide variety of topics, people and issues that appealed to me. It was at the library that I first found out about Black cowboys and later started wearing cowboy hats as a tribute to them. It was there I discovered writers such as Richard Wright, Gwendolyn Brooks, Alice Walker, Ishmael Reed, and many more. It was there in the late 1960's and 70's that I could encounter the work of the burgeoning "Black Arts Movement" and expand my ways of thinking. Libraries were a place where I could go beyond what I knew to encounter and embrace new ideas, new people and new thoughts. To me, libraries are essential parts of a civilization, and school libraries are important ways to introduce young people to reading, questioning and learning. So helping to keep a public school library open in a city that does not have enough funding to fully staff its schools is, to me, a vital thing to do.

But the thing I love most about volunteering has been discovering how radically changed the world of children's books has become. There are now an amazing number of books featuring characters who look like me, stories about people who look like me, and biographies and history books about people who look like me. Yes, I know these changes have been happening for some time now, but were I not volunteering in the library I would probably be unaware of the extent and reach of these changes. There are loads of stories now where African-American characters feature prominently and they and their lives are the main point of the story. And they live in a variety of times, places and situations, just as we do in the real world. There are also a lot of biographies for children now, not only about famous African-Americans, but also of folks very few people know about. One of the things I love doing for my read-aloud sessions with the kids during Black History Month is to read biographies about these lesser known people, many of whom even I did not know about until discovering them in a children's book. Many of these new biographies are also picture books, so I get to introduce young students to African-Americans such as Kansas potato magnate Junius Groves, New York City's Molly Williams, the first female firefighter in the United States, Texas cowboy and wild horse trainer Bob Lemmons, Maryland's astronomer, almanac-writer, and surveyor Benjamin Banneker, and many, many more. The kids I read to may be unaware of how momentous the existence of books such as these really is, but the importance of this is not lost on me. This has been a quiet but stunning revolution, and its effects will be long lasting and far ranging.

So I invite you to become a kid again for a little while and read some children's literature that can take you to some new places in the world and in your mind and give you some new information, new thoughts and new realizations. Go to your local public library and explore. Re-discover how much fun reading and learning can be just for its own sake. Enjoy the pictures, the stories and welcoming some new people into your life. It will be a wonderful and thrilling experience. (some of my favorite books the library has introduced me to; No Small Potatoes: Junius Groves and His Kingdom in Kansas Tonya Bolden; illustrated by Don Tate Molly, by Golly: The Legend of Molly Williams, America's First Female Firefighter Dianne Ochiltree; illustrated by Kathleen Kemly Black Cowboy, Wild Horses: A True Story Julius Lester; illustrated by Jerry Pinkney Dear, Benjamin Banneker Andrea Pinkney illustrated by Brian Pinkney (and a good website for searching out African-American children's books: https://aalbc.com/books/children-list.php )

An Arc of Promise: The Artwork of Jerry Pinkney

AN ARC OF PROMISE

 

 “When you look at my art, you can see my attempt at fulfilling and instilling that promise of light over dark…Each piece of art that I complete strengthens my connection to black history…to see its shape and form in my imagination, to move forward towards a promise fulfilled.”    Jerry Pinkney

 

  A few weeks ago I wrote about my volunteer work at the Kelly Public Elementary School in Philadelphia and how one of the joys of that has been discovering how many books there now are that feature people that look a lot like I look-books whose existence I could scarcely have imagined when I was an elementary school student. There are biographies, story books, slice of life books and more that feature and highlight peoples of color in all sorts of ways. Last weekend I was fortunate to see an amazing and powerful exhibit about someone at the forefront of this development, renowned illustrator and visual storyteller Jerry Pinkney. Born and raised in Germantown, Mr. Pinkney is one of the world’s most prolific and honored illustrators in the world whose work appears in dozens of books, magazines and even on the walls of several National Monuments. This exhibit is both a tribute to his outstanding work, and an explanation/demonstration of how he works. It is both fascinating and moving.

 

     The exhibit is at Chestnut Hill’s Woodmere Art Museum, a museum dedicated to the history of art and artists in the Philadelphia region. When they do a special exhibition centered on one artist the museum always presents a deep and multi-faceted look at both the art and the artist. So in this wonderfully arranged presentation we get a full picture of Jerry Pinkney, seeing many of his most memorable illustrations and gaining insight into how he thinks about, researches and prepares for a given assignment. We get a sense of the ideas and inspiration behind an illustration and of the work that goes into it. We see just how and what makes Jerry Pinkney so much more than just an illustrator.

 

  Jerry is, of course, a very talented illustrator. His brush strokes, use of color, sense of scale, and attention to detail make his work stand out and draw the viewer into each illustration. But there is much more than that to a Jerry Pinkney illustration. Some 100 examples of his work are in the exhibit, and for most of them he has notes explaining why he drew a certain thing a certain way. Why the 5 year old girl carrying a load of firewood in an illustration from the Museum of the African Burial Ground, for example, is as thin as she is and why she seems to be looking a little off to the side. Why in another illustration of a group of runaway slaves crossing a river, one person’s eyes are wide open and looking ahead even as most of the other escapees are looking back toward from where they have come. The facial and body expressions of people in his work convey and express great feeling; we come to look at the people in his work as real people with real lives, real feelings and real effects from what is described in the narrative of the particular book he is illustrating. The way he draws eyes, hands, and mouths, for example, say a lot about what is going on in the book and gives an insight into the characters. So, too, with the way he poses bodies and pays attention to backgrounds. A hawk, or a mountain or a cloud is not just “there in a Jerry Pinkney illustration; they say and represent important things about the narrative. For these reasons I think of Jerry Pinkney not just as an extremely talented illustrator, but as a visual storyteller as well.

 

  Myth and fable are important parts of Jerry’s interest, so the exhibit features drawings he did for books about the Biblical prophet, Elijah, Lakota Native American tales about the eagle, and Black folk hero John Henry. In these books there is a sense of magic to the illustrations; scenes seem to shimmer and the brightness or darkness in each illustration seems almost like special effects in a film. His use of light and shadow is amplified in these books, almost as if the books are taking place both in this world and another world simultaneously. And his subtle attention to background make each illustration feel complete and part of a much larger reality.

 

  I urge you all to make it to the Woodmere and experience the beauty and power of Jerry Pinkney’s art. Note also that there are a number of special events connected this special exhibition that are taking place at the museum as well.

Here are links to all that is happening.

 

https://woodmereartmuseum.org/experience/exhibitions/freedoms-journal_4756

 

https://vindevie.me/2019/02/20/jerry-pinkney-a-promise-fulfilled/

 

Woodmere Museum

9201 Germantown Ave

Philadelphia, PA19118

215-2470476

 

For me this exhibit was remarkable. I will attend it again as well as get to some of the special events connected to this exhibit. It is a great tribute to an amazing artist, and it is a clear example of the power of art to move, to teach and to inspire.

 

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"STARK"

DUKES FANS:

STARK: adjective, stark·er, stark·est.sheer, utter, downright, or complete:stark madness.

harsh, grim, or desolate, as a view, place, etc:a stark landscape.

extremely simple or severe:a stark interior.; bluntly or sternly plain; not softened or glamorized:the stark reality of the schedule's deadline

   I love the word, “stark.” I love words that mean what they sound like, and stark is such a word. Simple. Direct. Clear. As much as I like it, though, I do not use it very often. It is too “real” a word to be too lightly used. It is not a casual word that you can use anytime or anywhere; it will never fit as many situations and be as commonly used as, say, “nice” or “fine." It calls for a more solid and definite use. It seems to exist only for certain situations or realities that call it into being. Winter is the time of the year to use this wonderful word. This season is the reason the word exists. For so much of winter is gloriously “stark.”

 

    We can notice that easiest in looking up at the winter night sky. With tree leaves gone and fewer hours of daylight around, we can look up and really notice the stars and the moon. They both seem more present and real in wintertime; more “there.” The blue of the night is intense, severe and plain: stark. The stars seem somehow closer-almost as if we can reach up and touch them. We see them in a new way and with a new clarity. The numerous constellations are in much clearer view, and the stars seem pinned to the sky in a way that makes them seem larger and brighter. Definite. The moon is naked and complete and clear and severe: it is stark. There is no question of where it is or what phase it is in. All is clear. And with the supermoon being visible tonight we can see that stark does not necessarily mean, “ugly” or “non-compelling.” It can, in fact be the complete opposite; “starkness” can be very compelling and very attractive. It can be, in fact, quite beautiful and dramatic.

 

   We can also notice the beauty of winter starkness in the landscape. The ground in the garden is bare and brown for the most part. There are few plants or flowers to distract us, so if we look-really look-we can see the subtle variety of browns in the ground and see how “brown” is not just one color. We can also note the different greys of the rocks, and the jaggedness and barrenness of the bushes. If we stop and look closely at the tree stems and tree trunks we can see the beautifully colored bark on so many of the trees. That bark is out there and visible now, stark in its proud nakedness and glowing when the sunlight hits it at just the right angle. Winter is when we most clearly see this, notice it and appreciate it. Winter is when we allow ourselves to drink it in. And with the snowy landscape that February so often brings, we can hear the complete and simple softness and quiet of a world covered in freshly fallen snow. It is exquisite.

 

    “Stark” has its own beauty, its own gloriousness and its own power. I will go out waking soon and pay attention to  many of the trees in this neighborhood and their glorious trunks. I will look at the supermoon tonight and marvel. It will be cold yes, and a storm is in the forecast. But until I have to deal with the reality of digging out and using snow salt, I get a chance to take in the starkness and enjoy it. I hope you can too.

         

Happy SJP Week

DUKES FANS:

Happy SJP Week

 “Why does February feel like one big Tuesday?”

        Tony Stocker

 

  “February-the month of love??!! No wonder-it’s the shortest month of the year!”

            Dinesh Kumar Biren

 

 February is not one of the most beloved months in our culture. For many folks it seems unnecessary; it is too short, and the only reason it seems to exist is to delay the coming of Spring. For those of us in the mid-Atlantic region it has also been seen as the mean jokester of winter-yes, the sun is visible sooner and the morning is arriving progressively earlier. That seems good. But it is also often a month with bitter cold, great and howling winds, and snow and ice storms. It almost seems as if we now have the gift of more light, but only to better see and bear witness to our misery and suffering. It seems like a cruel and ironic joke. As as Tuesday for some folks only exists to lengthen the time it takes to get to the middle of the week, February only exists to lengthen the time is takes for us to get to spring. For many of us that is unforgiveable.

 

    The Romans, from whom we get much of our calendar, did not seem to like or understand February much either. It’s becoming a month is attributed to the legendary second king of Rome, Numa Pompilius, who supposedly added January and February to the calendar around 710 B.C.E. Supposedly he wanted to more accurately reflect the time it took for the earth to travel around the sun, and adding those two months made the calendar more accurately reflect a solar year. But it took some time for February to find a comfortable home within the Roman calendar. Over the decades it moved from the last month of the calendar to the second month, and it took a number of calendar revisions before its length was finally established at three consecutive years of 28 days with a fourth year of 29 days. But by the time our current Gregorian calendar was adopted, February had its place firmly established as month #2. And so it remains.

 

  Despite their seeming uncertainty about the month, the Romans saw February as a month of important ritual occurrences. There were at least 7 regularly observed private and public Roman rituals during this month, and many had to do with family and fertility. Februa, for which the month is named, was a time for ritual purification and cleansing. It was probably pre-Roman, but it was so important to Romans that it was subsumed into the Roman festival of the Lupercalia that honored the founding of the city and strove to rid it of evil spirits and bad thoughts prior to the spring plantings. It was believed that this cleansing was necessary to allow good health to enter the city and for a return of the fertility so necessary for planting. February also featured a new moon, and that seemed to be a celestial confirmation of the need for ritual cleansing.

 

  I am not a lover of February-I am one of those who has tired of winter by mid-February and wants spring to return. But this second full week of February has always meant a lot to me since I was a little kid. For it features the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln (the 12^th) and Frederick Douglass (the 14^th, which is why historian Carter G. Woodson established that week as Negro History Week. As a kid that was a time when my church, black newspapers and magazines as well as radio stations had features on aspects of Black history. I was always finding out something new and exciting, and this fed my curiosity and ultimately helped lead me to becoming a history teacher. I looked forward to this week with excitement. We now have Black History Month, but this second week still remains important to me. For not only does it feature Lincoln and Douglass’ birthday; it also features February 11, the day long imprisoned South African activist and later South African President Nelson Mandela was released from prison. That is definitely another reason for joy and celebration for me and another reason for loving this week.

 

  Mandela is one of my all-time heroes and inspirations. The way he never gave up his political ideas and positions but did not get carried away by hate and anger still inspire me. I came to think of him as South Africa’s Martin Lither King- hate the system but not the people in it. And he tried to govern the country  that way as well in setting up the Truth and Reconciliation process. So February 11, 1990 became a very important day for me. Like the signing of the Voting Rights and Civil Rights Acts, it presented me with something wonderful in the real world that I could barely have imagined happening. It seemed impossible-like a miracle or a dream come true. And every year that date fills me with joy. No, it does not make me like February any more, not by a long shot. I am still impatient for this month to end and for spring to finally get here. But I now think of this second week of February as, “Social Justice Possibility Week”- a time to focus on the possibilities of change after years of struggle and hope. Maybe, in some strange way, this is one of our modern world’s form of cleansing and purification- a regular reminder that change is possible with action and struggle, and that those actions and struggles on behalf of change can lead to something better. So as I bundle up and dress in my 4 layers, I am lifted up by this week. I am reminded that February can be a time of wonder and possibility, even as I await the arrival of the next season.  Happy Social Justice Possibility Week. May we all live in and see the possibility of change.

The Beauty of A Winter Sky

DUKES FANS

The sky grew darker, painted blue on blue, one stroke at a time, into deeper and deeper shades of night.”

Haruki Murakami,

He who marvels at the beauty of the world in summer will find equal cause for wonder and admiration in winter.

John Burroughs 

    We have finally started to have a winter we are familiar with around here. We have had several consecutive days of temperatures in the low 30’s and 20’s, and we are all bundled up and wearing ear muffs, gloves, layers, and down coats. The heat has been on for several nights in a row now, and there are oil trucks seen on the streets. We have had a light snow in our immediate area, and people near us had several inches with the discomfort and change in routines and schedules such an event brings. It has been getting darker earlier for several weeks now, but in the past two weeks it seems to have FELT darker earlier as we are now all hunched up and bundled.  I love observing the world around me and paying attention to the changes in wildlife, the natural scenery and especially the sky. And while I am not fan of being cold, I do truly love early winter. It looks and feels like no other time of the year. There is a clarity, crispness and directness about this time of the year that appeals to me. And the winter sky? Well it is absolutely amazing.

     I no longer teach, but I still love being outside in early evening and arising early in the morning. I do that because there is grandeur in the winter night sky for me, and I love to experience it both as it starts and as it ends. The sky somehow seems bigger, bolder, and more dramatic in this part of the year. The blueness and the darkness seem a little more intense, a little more “there” and present. At this time of the year we can look straight up into the night, and we encounter it more directly. There are no leaves on the trees to block out the sky, and there are fewer "scenic distractions” on the ground. The stars are clearer and brighter, the moon is more obvious and radiant, and there just seem to be more planets waiting to be seen. It is a treat for me. I love watching the moon going through its phases at this time of the year; we can see them all so clearly and for such a long time. Full Moon, New Moon, Quarter Moon, waxing and waning, alternately hiding behind clouds on some nights, and shining brightly and boldly on others. The moon seems more present in the early winter sky, more like the ethereal watchman watching over us. And it is on these nights that so many of the ancient myths and tales we heard in school and/or that our parents told us make a little more sense. The night truly seems mysterious, powerful, and beautiful. And maybe a little ominous as well.

    I also like trying to find the planets and constellations that are so much more visible now.  I live in Mt. Airy, and Orion the Hunter has been bold and bright early evenings in the southeast sky. His club is clear and visible, and he makes for a fierce presence over the buildings and the city.  The Dippers will be seen in the northwest sky as well, and I love noting them. When I am out walking at 6 AM in the morning and look to the southwest, Venus and Jupiter are there shining brightly. Venus has been spectacular this winter; it is the third brightest planet in our morning sky, and it has been glowing magnificently, occasionally with a seeming halo around it. And if I make it up to Chestnut Hill and look back the sky from there, I can see Venus fading out of sight just as the sun’s rays color the clouds pink and white and blue and red. A new say is here. And whether it is early morning or early evening, whenever I take a walk around the block or just stand outside my door and look up, I am amazed and comforted by that amazing winter sky. And when I am sad, worried or uneasy or feeling sorry for myself, looking up at that sky. Its many wonders brings me peace and calms me.

   This weekend the sky will outdo itself and present something rare and special as an added treat. From about 11:40 PM Sunday night until 12:45 AM Monday morning in the Philadelphia area the moon will pass between the earth and the sun, entering a total lunar eclipse that will make the moon seem a bright rusty red-a Super Blood Moon.  And the moon will be as close as possible to earth at that time-a Super Moon, so two rare celestial phenomena will be occurring at the same time. I shall be up and out, taking it all in and marveling. Hopefully there will be little cloud cover-if there is a heavy cloud cover the eclipse might not be visible. But visible or not, I will be out there looking up. Knowing it is happening and being in its presence is enough for me. The winter sky makes the cold and the bundling and shivering all just a little more bearable and a little more beautiful and provides wonder. It is truly a treat to behold. It is all free and it is always there; all we have to do is simply look up. Happy viewing.

(If you are looking for info on how to watch the Supper Moon eclipse, http://time.com/5489267/super-blood-wolf-moon-total-lunar-eclipse/  )

MARTIN LUTHER KING DAY OF SERVICE

  If you have not decided what to do for the King Day of Service, here is a link to the Philadelphia area’s MLK Day of Service activities:

https://mlkdayofservice.org/

                                                    

    

Reflections on Martin Luther King Day

DUKES FANS:

        It is January and once again we will observe Martin Luther King Day. It is called a “Day Of Service” rather than a holiday because we do things in the real world that show that we honor not just the memory of the man but the meaning of the man’s life as well. We have playground and neighborhood cleanups, raise money for good causes, feed homeless people, attend religious services or conferences on social justice, have petition signing days, voting registration days, and more.  And we have, of course, countless recitations of the “I Have A Dream Speech in school assemblies, prayer services, on the news and everywhere. I have heard that speech for 56 years, and it is always thrilling and moving; I weep a little every time I hear it. But I do wish we would teach more and recognize more than that about King and about the Civil Rights Movement.  That we more publicly acknowledged that long before that moment in Washington, there was a young, unsure of himself Martin Luther King in Montgomery, AL, several important mentors who helped and encouraged him, and the willing actions of hundreds of ordinary people consistently doing things in the face of violence and personal sacrifice that led up to that stirring Washington speech and made it possible. To that end I plan to re-watch the film, Selma, in a few days. It is, to me, a very important film, not only about King but also about how movements grow and come to matter.

   One of the reasons I love this film is because it showed both King and the movement more fully than either are regularly shown in our classrooms and in the media. In Selma, King is shown more as a real person, with foibles, fears, occasional confusion, and at times, bad actions and decisions. He wasn’t a perfect icon; he was a man, a human. And he did many “human” things, The film also showed the ways some people disagreed with and challenged him, and how there were times when his strategies did not work.  Most importantly, the film showed the people who were the infrastructure of the movement. The people whose faith and actions allowed him to accomplish so many of the things he did. He was a great man, yes, but he BECAME a great man. And it took the faith, actions, courage of others to make that growth possible.  It was not him just by himself.

   Take the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott. People know Rosa Parks refused to sit in the back of the bus and was arrested on Thursday, December 1, 1955. But most people do not know that she had worked with the NAACP for years, was not the first black woman arrested for sitting in the front of a bus, and that she set out to get arrested. Most people also do not know that it was labor leader E.D. Nixon who tricked King into hosting the first boycott planning meeting because King was new in town and the white powers of Montgomery did not know him and had no plans on how to deal with him. And the very first boycott meeting happened not because of King, but because of Jo Ann Robinson, a long-time member of the Montgomery Women’s Council who had been advocating for years to change the Montgomery bus system. She and her family hand mimeographed-not XEROXED or photo copied-hand mimeographed some 52,000 fliers Thursday night after Ms. Park’s arrest that were placed in churches, given to high school students, and placed in barber shops and other places on Friday, December 2, calling people to that first meeting on that same Friday evening.  That initiated a one-day boycott of the bus system on Monday, December 5, and it was that walkout that led to the full- blown year-long Montgomery Bus Boycott that we think of today. Those established black political leaders tricked, guided, and put Martin in a position of leadership in Montgomery that led both to the March to Selma and the March on Washington for Jobs and Justice that featured the “I Have  A Dream” Speech. They helped make that moment and so many others possible.

   Selma also focused on some of these other Civil Rights figures, who though little-remembered today, were vital to the movement and to King’s rise as a leader. Rev Ralph Abernathy, Andrew Young, and John Lewis were all shown in ways that made clear their importance in what came to be known as, “The Movement.”  They helped, advised, and sometimes criticized King as he was moving into his leadership position. Yes, the Reverend Dr. King was a phenomenal and charismatic speaker, had wonderful ideas, and said many wise and inspiring things. But without the help, advice and actions of so many others in the early days of the boycott, he would never have emerged as a leader.

   The film also makes it abundantly clear that without the hundreds of maids, cooks, shoeshine boys, chauffeurs, mechanics, students, teachers, volunteers and others who marched in the streets for years and were willing to be beaten and arrested, the Civil Rights Movement and King’s emergence as a force for change would not have been possible. It was this collection of “ordinary people” that sustained the boycotts and demonstrations and helped bring forth change. Without them nothing would have changed. They were the bricks and mortar-the infrastructure- that held the movement together.  

   We are not all great thinkers, orators, or planners. Most of us are “ordinary.” But being “ordinary” doesn’t mean we have to be regulated to the sidelines. We all can be part of the change we want to see in the world. We can all be, in some small, consistent way a part of making change happen. We can be part of the infrastructure. That is what has made changes happen in the world in the past, and it will continue to do so in the future. That is one of the very important legacies of Dr. King’s story and of the lives of the people shown and portrayed in Selma. All of us have roles to play if we are willing. Each of us, even in small seemingly inconsequential ways, can make a difference. Selma shows that. And knowing and believing that gives me hope, even in these troubled times.

(Here are links to biography pages of some important people connected with Reverend King and/or mentioned in Selma

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._D._Nixon

https://www.biography.com/people/jo-ann-robinson-21443551

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Young

https://johnlewis.house.gov/john-lewis/biography

https://www.biography.com/people/ralph-d-abernathy-9174397 )

Here is a link to the Philadelphia area’s MLK Day of Service activities:

https://mlkdayofservice.org/