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MLK DAY 2020 AT BATES

‘From the Ground Up’

By Bates College

January 24^th, 2020

'THE NEED TO BUILD UPWARD'

Bates photographers Phyllis Graber Jensen and Theophil Syslo portray moments from the college’s 2020 MLK Day observance. The campus community, joined by guests from near and far, explored the theme “From the Ground Up: Inequity, Bias, Privilege, Structure, Death."

MLK DAY 2020 AT BATES

MLK DAY 2020 AT BATES

MLK DAY 2020 AT BATES

SCREENING AND DISCUSSION OF 'AN AMERICAN ASCENT'

Moderated by Alice Doughty, Lecturer in Geology, this documentary by directors George Potter and Andrew Adkins follows the first group of African American climbers on Denali. Reflecting this year’s MLK Day theme, “From the Ground Up,” the film addresses race and the outdoors as the team is filmed ascending the 20,310-foot peak of North America’s tallest mountain.

Associate Dean for International Student Programs James Reese adjusts a parka provided by Alice Doughty in front of a photographic poster of New Zealand's Cameron Glacier.

MLK DAY 2020 AT BATES

MLK DAY 2020 AT BATES

MLK DAY 2020 AT BATES

'ENVISIONING JUSTICE...NOW!'

A service of song, reflection, and dance stirs our spirits and sets our intentions for the transformative learning that will take place on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The guest preacher, the Rev. Dr. Theon Johnson III, pastor of Downs Memorial United Methodist Church in Oakland, Calif., inspires those in the auditorium to make change now.

MLK DAY 2020 AT BATES

MLK DAY 2020 AT BATES

MLK DAY 2020 AT BATES

MLK DAY 2020 AT BATES

Temple Shalom's Rabbi Sruli Dresdner and his wife Lisa Mayer, along with members of the Bates College Jewish Student Union, provide a musical and dance offering.

'I DON'T KNOW WHY I SAID THAT'

The MLK Day keynote speaker, Stanford University Professor of Psychology Jennifer Lynn Eberhardt, looks at hidden bias in Monday's opening gathering in Alumni Gym.

MLK DAY 2020 AT BATES

FILLING THE GYM

With about 700 listeners filling Alumni Gym (the traditional Gomes Chapel venue being unavailable due to ongoing restoration), Eberhardt’s lecture makes a powerful beginning to a day of intensive Bates programming that explores the legacy and lessons of the civil rights icon.

MLK DAY 2020 AT BATES

MLK DAY 2020 AT BATES

MLK DAY 2020 AT BATES

MLK DAY 2020 AT BATES

Shown with Kendall Williams '23 following the keynote session, MLK Day Planning Committee co-chair Michael Sargent introduced speaker Jennifer Eberhardt. Both are social psychologists.

MLK DAY 2020 AT BATES

'GERMAN ART, AMERICAN VISION'

Vanessa German's exhibition Miracles and Glory Abound uses the familiar painting “Washington Crossing the Delaware” as a starting point for its sculptures. German's power-figures spark a conversation about public memory and rewriting history through the lens of privilege.

MLK DAY 2020 AT BATES

MEMPHIS 1968: MIXING MATERIAL AND VIRTUAL REALITIES

Derek Ham’s interactive virtual reality (VR) video I Am a Man explores the 1968 Memphis sanitation workers’ strike as one of the events leading up to the assassination of Dr. King. The VR provides a personal experience that deepens our understanding of the struggles of the black workers and residents of Memphis. The exhibit also includes replicas and copies of primary documents from the Memphis strike.

MLK DAY 2020 AT BATES

MLK DAY 2020 AT BATES

MLK DAY 2020 AT BATES

USING PICTURE BOOKS TO TALK ABOUT RACE AND RACISM WITH CHILDREN

Hosted by the team behind the Diverse BookFinder, a collection of thousands of picture books featuring black and indigenous people and people of color, this event is popular with local families. The collection was founded by Professor of Psychology Krista Aronson in collaboration with children’s book creator Anne Sibley O’Brien (below, left) and Brenna Callahan ’15.

MLK DAY 2020 AT BATES

MLK DAY 2020 AT BATES

AN EMBARRASSMENT OF RICHES

MLK Day at Bates is filled with three concurrent sessions of workshops, screenings, book discussions, and performances.

MLK DAY 2020 AT BATES

MLK DAY 2020 AT BATES

MLK DAY 2020 AT BATES

MLK DAY 2020 AT BATES

MLK DAY 2020 AT BATES

A POWERFUL DESIGN

The signature design for this year's MLK Day posters and programs, created by Bates Communications Office Web Designer Olivia Orr, caught the community's attention with its powerful use of type. We enjoyed calling out a few images that documented its presence throughout the day.

MLK DAY 2020 AT BATES

MLK DAY 2020 AT BATES

MLK DAY 2020 AT BATES

MLK DAY 2020 AT BATES

MLK DAY 2020 AT BATES

MLK DAY 2020 AT BATES

THE WORKSHOPS CONTINUE

From one setting to another, Bates spaces are filled with interested and engaged participants.

MLK DAY 2020 AT BATES

MLK DAY 2020 AT BATES

The session “Enduring Values?” drew a capacity audience as two students shared their research connecting slave labor in the South with an early supporter (and the namesake) of Bates.

MLK DAY 2020 AT BATES

MLK DAY 2020 AT BATES

MLK DAY 2020 AT BATES

MLK DAY 2020 AT BATES

MLK DAY 2020 AT BATES

ROOTS OF REVOLUTION AND RESOLVE: A DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION OF THE ANTI-SLAVERY EFFORTS OF BLACK COLONIAL AMERICANS

Led by Cliff Odle, Lecturer in Theater; Anne Engel, Executive VP-Revolutionary Spaces; and Amberly Solo, Stage Manager, this session featured plays followed by a discussion.

MLK DAY 2020 AT BATES

MLK DAY 2020 AT BATES

THE REV. DR. BENJAMIN ELIJAH MAYS, CLASS OF 1920, DEBATE

In the popular Mays Debate, student debaters from Bates and Morehouse colleges argued the motion: “This House believes that social movements should propose policies that radically re-imagine society rather than prioritizing incremental change.”

The 2020 Mays debaters, from left: Lillian Chang ’20 of Bates, Daniel Edwards ’21 of Morehouse, Samuel Melcher ’21 of Bates, and Caleb Strickland ’23 of Morehouse. Bates debater Peter Riley '22, center, convenes.

MLK DAY 2020 AT BATES

MLK DAY 2020 AT BATES

MLK DAY 2020 AT BATES

MLK DAY 2020 AT BATES

SANKOFA

Written and directed by Losseni Barry ’22 of New York City and organized by Abdulwahab Mohamed ’22 of Lewiston, Maine, this 10th annual production, “Invisible Women,” celebrates and explores the stories of women of color at Bates and in Lewiston,

MLK DAY 2020 AT BATES

MLK DAY 2020 AT BATES

MLK DAY 2020 AT BATES

MLK DAY 2020 AT BATES

MLK DAY 2020 AT BATES

MLK DAY 2020 AT BATES

MLK DAY 2020 AT BATES

MLK DAY 2020 AT BATES

MLK DAY 2020 AT BATES

AND SANKOFA IN VIDEO

Watch Theophil Syslo’s video of the 2020 Sankofa production.

Footnotes

Produced by the Bates Communications Office

FootNotes

Produced by the Bates Communications Office

© 2026 Bates College

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