Proctor's celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day began on a snowy Sunday evening as our community gathered to explore how film amplifies voices and drives change. One option was Questlove's "Summer of Soul," which confronts a striking historical paradox. How could a festival that drew over 300,000 people to Harlem on successive Sundays in the summer of 1969 – featuring legendary artists like Nina Simone, Stevie Wonder, and Mahalia Jackson – remain hidden from collective consciousness for over fifty years? The gathering of 50,000 peaceful Black concertgoers represented the kind of community organizing and cultural revolution that Dr. King advocated. Yet this decisive moment of Black joy, artistic expression, and unity had been largely forgotten or, perhaps, intentionally obscured from our nation's history.
Our Monday gathering began with essential questions about the intersection of art and activism and the crucial role young people play in driving social change. Poet and cultural historian Mia Willis guided our community through these questions with powerful insights while sharing a window into their personal story through poetry. Drawing on their background in anthropology, Willis challenged us to examine whose stories are recorded in official histories and the vital role artists play in capturing truths that might otherwise be erased or overlooked.
Willis highlighted how young people have consistently been one of the driving forces behind transformative moments in the Civil Rights Movement, including the Birmingham Children's Crusade, where students as young as seven years old demonstrated extraordinary courage by facing fire hoses, police dogs, and arrest to stand up for what they believed in. The Freedom Rides of 1961 offered another compelling example, as high school and college students from CORE (Congress of Racial Equality) put their lives on the line to desegregate interstate bus travel.
Reflecting on these examples of principled youth leadership, I was reminded of a recent conversation between Adam Grant and President Halla Tómasdóttir of Iceland. "Leadership ultimately comes down to asking yourself the question, who am I not to offer myself up to do something?" Halla emphasized. "If you wait until you're confident to do something, you're unlikely to take big risks or take big leaps." Mia Willis also deepened our understanding of Dr. King's legacy, particularly his work with the Poor People's Campaign and his role as a labor organizer. Just as King faced criticism when he spoke out against the Vietnam War and challenged economic inequality – even from former allies – he demonstrated that authentic leadership often requires speaking difficult truths, regardless of the personal cost.
The concept of radical imagination emerged as a powerful thread throughout Mia's presentation. They challenged us to understand art not simply as commentary on what is but as a vital tool for envisioning what could be. "Poetry must have utility," Willis emphasized. "A poem should be at least as good as a ham and cheese sandwich." Just as a ham and cheese sandwich serves a clear purpose, they argued that poetry must do meaningful work in the world. It must fuel our movements for justice and our collective imagination. Willis referenced James Baldwin's commentary on the artist's role: "If I love you, I have to make you conscious of the things you don't see." This dual purpose - to sustain and illuminate - challenges us to create art that serves our communities while revealing truths about our world.
This principle came alive during a workshop during which members of the Proctor community wrote their own "kwansabas" – seven line praise poems on family, community, culture, or self – that challenged them to distill complex feelings into precise language. We then witnessed remarkable courage as students, after crafting their poems in just ten minutes, stepped forward to share their work. Their bravery continued as student singers and musicians performed "I Can See the Change" and "Lift Me Up," their voices filling the Meeting House.
Just as the civil rights movement demonstrated the power of young voices to catalyze change, our students showed how new generations continue to step forward, ready to listen deeply and speak boldly in service of a more just world. Their willingness to share their poetry, music, and the truth of their lived experience – reflecting their multifaceted identities – embodied President Tómasdóttir's vision for inclusive leadership: "We need to find a very new way to do leadership where we come together across these gaps, build bridges, listen more, learn more, and co-create more with compassion for the things that matter to all of us." As educators, our role is to nurture both the courage to speak and the wisdom to listen.
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