Peabody MLK Panel Connects Activism Past And Present

Dorthula Green of the National Council of Negro Women.

In a panel discussion in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., ranging from the Montgomery bus boycott to mentorship programs, from the history of New Haven jazz to homemade incubators, representatives from three New Haven social and environmental justice organizations drew direct lines from the civil rights movement of two generations ago to the work happening in the Elm City today.

With a spike in Covid-19 cases and the museum’s continued renovation, The Peabody held its 26th Annual Celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.‘s Legacy of Social and Environmental Justice as a series of virtual events, including storytelling, artmaking, a poetry slam, and community talks. Rounding out the festivities was Community Conversation: Standing on Their Shoulders,” featuring representatives from three New Haven social and environmental justice organizations — the New Haven African American Historical Society, the National Council of Negro Women, and Common Ground High School, Urban Farm and Environmental Education Center — who reminded viewers of the long history surrounding the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr.‘s work, and the work that remains to be done.

Baker.

Before Covid-19 and before the Peabody began its renovation, these organizations would have had tables set up in the museum in the weekend so visitors could discover them and learn more about how to get involved. But the excitement we feel is the same whether it’s in person or virtual,” said Carolyn Baker of the Greater New Haven African American Historical Society, which is housed in the Ethnic Heritage center at Southern Connecticut State University. We’d like to believe that everyone knows we’re here,” she added, but knew there were those who would benefit from an introduction.

The Society started in the late 1990s, was formally organized in 2003, and fully incorporated in 2004, guided by the vision of Valerie Bertrand and her husband Don to bring the rich vital history of African Americans to the forefront,” Baker said. Having a fuller understanding of one’s history makes you a richer citizen, a more informed citizen.” That was perhaps even more true of young Black people, who needed to know who we are, where we came from,” Baker said. Otherwise we’re working in a false narrative.”

The Society has brought in numerous speakers, among them Ben Vereen, Adam C. Powell III, Lonnie Bunch, Judge Constance Baker Motley, Sonia Sanchez, The Last Poets, Attorney Hugh Price, Steve Perry, and Marilyn Nelson. It hosted a film series on SCSU’s campus and put energy into making people aware of the story of Ebenezer Bassett, first Black U.S. diplomat.

The organization likes its events to be driven by its constituents. We seek ideas from our membership and friends for ideas for information they’d like to know about more,” Baker said. We are your resource for that, and we want you to feel comfortable in turning to us.”

We’ve made a robust program for ourselves,” said Siobhan Carter-David, also representing the Society. In 2021 it hosted Karima Robinson, director of Colored People’s Day, a film about Ida B. Wells. Mary Philips from Lehman College did a presentation on women in the Black Panther party, including Erica Huggins. It hosted a screening of Unsung Heroes, about New Haven’s jazz scene in the 50s and 60s, as well as a Black history walk fundraiser of Dixwell with Babz Rawls-Ivy. When Covid allows, the Society is planning an open house of the Ethnic Heritage Center on Fitch Street. It will also host a genealogy talk with author Jill Snyder in February, presenting Dear Mary, Dear Luther, as well as a women’s organization roundtable, including sororities, detailing the long history of service and sisterhood in the New Haven area.”

Petaway.

Diane Petaway and Dorthula Green represented the New Haven chapter of the National Council of Negro Women, which Petaway explained was founded in 1935 to address the need for a united organization of Black women, so that when we speak, it would show power.” The organization now has 29 national affiliates and over 200 sections, five in New England. The New Haven chapter received its charter in 1975.

Green explained that when she grew up in segregated South Carolina her school always had a picture of Booker T. Washington, George Washington Carver and Mary McLeod Bethune,” educator, activist, and founding president of the NCNW. She was committed to the education and development of excellence in the African American community,” Green said. The NCNW was really active in the early days of the civil rights movement.” Women were not given the forefront, but provided wisdom from the background.” Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks both spoke at NCNW fundraisers. NCNW activist Dorothy Heights Wednesdays in Mississippi program gathered White women from the North who would fly down to Mississippi and work with Black women” on education and housing issues.

The history resonates almost too deeply today. We’re still fighting many of the same fights, perhaps in a different way,” Green said — over housing, education, and over voting rights. Just as NCNW worked to get people to the polls and to understand why voting was important” a generation ago, today, voting matters at every level.” The NCNW continues its education work through mentorships and partnerships with schools, reading programs, and book scholarships. And our flagship program, the African American Women’s Summit,” continues virtually during the pandemic.

Joel Tolman, from Common Ground High School, explained that he was daunted at the possibility of representing his institution in remembrance of Martin Luther King, Jr., and whenever I am daunted, I’m moved by a quote from Alice Walker,” from Anything We Love Can Be Saved:

It has become a common feeling, I believe, as we have watched our heroes falling over the years, that our own small stone of activism, which might not seem to measure up to the rugged boulders of heroism we have so admired, is a paltry offering toward the building of an edifice of hope. Many who believe this choose to withhold their offerings out of shame.

This is the tragedy of our world.

For we can do nothing substantial toward changing our course on the planet, a destructive one, without rousing ourselves, individual by individual, and bringing our small, imperfect stones to the pile.

In this regard, I have a story to tell.

For Tolman, who started working at Common Ground 19 years ago, his own work was about bringing our own imperfect stones to the pile, however small.” Stressing that Common Ground strives to be part of the New Haven community,” he spoke on behalf of the school by saying that we want to invite all of our neighbors — whoever might like to get involved” to help the school grow into our full potential.”

Common Ground was founded in the early 1990s by public school teachers, farmers, and movers and shakers” in the New Haven community, Tolman said, but when I think about whose shoulders I stand on most, I think of our students” and what they have done to make Common Ground what it is.”

He talked about Nichole Wells, among the first 60 students at Common Ground, when there was no school to go to.” Classes were held at Southern Connecticut State University, and the land where the school is now had no buildings on it yet. She talked about arriving on campus to absolutely nothing, and helping build the school from the ground up.” The things she built, Tolman said, are still standing.

Tolman recalled Kathiana Torres showing up with a homemade incubator” for chicken eggs, and saving a Canada goose, keeping it in her bathtub for a couple days until she found an organization to rehabilitate it. He remembered her working to reclaim abandoned land near the school and helping turn it into an oasis.”

It’s a place I go when I need to relax and get grounded,” Tolman said. It’s also a place where students go to study water quality and do restoration work.

He talked about Jenisha Khadka, a recent immigrant who put up flags of many nations at the school so students know this is their home.” She took over the Speak Club, a space for our students who are newcomers to the United States to come together,” he said. Each year they identify two more students who will take leadership in the next year.”

And he talked about Keilly Solano, a creator of experiences.… She’s an organizer who helps other students find their power, and claim their power.” Solano learned about the Theater of the Oppressed and, returning to Common Ground to work there, teamed up with Elm Shakespeare to create a class around it.

Our classes are much more rooted in New Haven than they were” before Solano arrived, Tolman said. I saw the spark in Keilly’s eye as she saw that something she created five years ago is affecting students now.”

Why am I telling these stories?” he asked in conclusion. It was in part to acknowledge young people, their families, their teachers, and their community. But it is in part to welcome you all as well,” he said.

The panel participants noted that so much activism today was driven by younger people. But it’s important that we stay active in the life of the city civically and socially,” Green said, and make sure we educate our community to understand that being proactive is a power.”

The struggle for social justice is as alive today as it was when Dr. King first opened his mouth,” Baker said. Looking to the history of the movement can help today’s activists understand better how resilient they are, how powerful they are, what they endured.… Young people can see what their role is, to continue to lift up their stories for their future.”

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