Learning Outside the Box




Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

     The Martin Luther King Day Celebration in Chicago is an experience like none other. Praises for Dr. King's work begin before the federal holiday arrives and contiues throughout the week. This city keeps its rich history alive and educates youth on cultural heritage with the smallest details- the street signs, a schools' names, and the testimonies of those who lived through the Civil Rights Movement. One person who worked to record and gather history for future generations was the insatiable Dr.Margaret Taylor Burroughs.

Dr. Margaret Taylor-Burroughs,
 founder of the DuSable Museum of African-American History

        Burroughs was an educator and artist who founded the DuSable Museum of African American History in 1961. Her recent death last month has prompted hugh contributions and praise from the community for her work.
      When  I visited the museum on Monday,  I  was reminded about the obstacles Blacks have overcome and introduced to unsung heroes for civil rights. I saw the chains that bound enslaved peoples together. I saw a drawing of the bottom of a slave ship which depicted the brutal treatment of  Blacks on their voyage across the Atlantic.  But I also saw art dispaying the great kings and queens of Africa, artifacts from Buffalo soldiers and the Tuskegee Airmen, and the Let Your Motto Be Resistance exhibit. The museum's treasures were more than just things and pictures people found and donated; it gives people a chance to connect with history, to see what has happened and what can be done.
     The great Judith Jamison spoke of these possibilities in her speech for the University of Chicago's Martin Luther King Day celebration. She said, "Nothing will be done if we do not move. If I don't move, I feel pain in my bones to be everywhere at once. Move and never stop moving". This dancer wasn't simply speaking about the abilities of human bodies, but the need to keep a sense of urgency for a forward movement of progress. Since the death of Dr. King, America has shifted back and forwards for equal rights and justice. Now, what does this have to do with urban education?        
      Everything. There are two old saying that befit my point; "Apeople without a vision shall perish" and "A people without knowledge of their past are destined to repeat it". If students have no knowledge or their past and no idea of what they can be, the education system will fail. Students need more than just dates and names; they have to have a connection with the work and develop a passion to continue the movement in order to succeed. This a lesson that should be the mission of urban schools and principal goal of education.




 http://www.dusablemuseum.org/exhibits/details/opening-december-11-2010-let-your-motto-be-resistance-african-american-port/

Judith Jamison in Alvin Ailey's Cry