With Help from Local Students, Harvard Commemorates King

A line of over 450 students from the Middlesex School—snaking from the very back of Sever Hall to the front steps of Memorial Church—marched across Harvard Yard yesterday in commemoration of the birth of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr.

Although the procession by students of the elite boarding school called to mind the protests of King’s era, the students’ organizer said their queue was “no flair of civil disobedience."

"Being from Concord," said Dan Scheibe, assistant head of the school, "we’re terribly obedient."

Scheibe said he arranged for all student and faculty members to join affiliates of the Harvard community at yesterday evening’s, university-wide commemoration of King.

"We’ve tried to do a good job with Martin Luther King Day a number of times by having no classes and our own services,” he said. “But today, we’re trying to take advantage of the local academic community."

While many Harvard attendees said they were expecting a dismal turnout due to the fact that the holiday fell during exam-period, the Middlesex crowd helped fill nearly every pew in Memorial Church as members of Harvard’s black community and the Kuumba Singers read selections of King’s work and sang traditional spirituals during an hour-long service.

Chimdimnma C. Esimai ’08, a former Kuumba member was quick to praise the group’s performance.

“I mostly took away the music,” she said. “If you listen to the old [civil rights] speeches, they were originally stated in churches, and the music was what really moved them.”

Esimai added that she likes the idea of having students from local schools attend Harvard events, and said that the University should foster relationships that promote such community exchanges in the future.

“I’m really proud that these kids felt comfortable using our resources,” she said.

The evening’s keynote speaker, Elizabeth A. Walker, a graduate of the Divinity School and a former news anchor for Boston’s CBS affiliate, said that addressing the full chapel was intimidating and humbling, but that the solemnity of the situation assuaged her fears.

Walker’s speech focused on the Greek word “agape,” which she said translates best to the word “caring.” This principle of unconditional caring served as the core of King’s political philosophy of nonviolence, she said.

Walker, who is currently producing a film detailing the genocide in Darfur, added that this love should penetrate all life’s actions.

“It’s hard to keep working if it doesn’t come from the core of who you are,” she said from the pulpit. “I can’t be indifferent if I care. There is a risk in caring. [...] I would suggest that we take the risk.”

Harvard’s Black Students Association President Sarah O. Lockridge-Steckel ’09, who read from King’s “A Christmas Sermon on Peace,” said she was trying to convey a point similar to Walker’s.

“Even in the midst of struggle you can still love, improve, and better the world,” Lockridge-Steckel said.

After the ceremony, Middlesex freshman Michael Butera said the presentation “opened up some students’ eyes and would not have had the same effect if it had been held at Middlesex.”

Anna Garbier, a senior at the boarding school, added that the excursion “really is in the spirit of Martin Luther King—going to a new place and exploring what there is to see.”

—Staff writer Charles J. Wells can be reached at wells2@fas.harvard.edu.