In celebration of the upcoming federal holiday marking the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., students in Grades Five through Twelve attended two special performances honoring his life and legacy in “At the Table with Dr. King” presented in the Paul Family Athletic Center. Viewpoint families also were invited to attend an evening performance in the Fletcher Family Library, allowing them to experience the same moving assembly enjoyed by their children earlier in the day.

“At the Table with Dr. King” teaches students about the American Civil Rights Movement and the valuable lessons of equality and respect that could not be more important today. Using inspiring music, poetry, historical video footage, still images, and Dr. King’s own words -- beginning with the moment he feels called to action in 1955 through his assassination in 1968 – “At the Table with Dr. King” asks students to reflect upon his enduring significance and to engage in acts of service and leadership in their own communities.

Following the performance for the Upper School students, Head of School Mark McKee shared two quotes from Dr. King that have had a resonance for him throughout his life. He said, “The Letter from Birmingham Jail, which was quoted here today, is really important to me: ‘Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere…Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.’ The other quote has to do with the notion that what was so difficult during the Civil Rights period, ‘The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people, but the silence over that by the good people.’ I hope you carry these valuable messages with you and thank you for your attention to Dr. King's legacy.”

The program was presented by the Denver-based music ensemble More Than Music, a nonprofit organization led by executive director, Dave LeMieux, who spoke to the parents after their performance in the Fletcher Family Library. He said, “I think our goal, rather than just coming in and being simply educators, is to also be inspirational and give students ideas on how they might be able to harness some of their own creative energy and focus it on other social issues or other historical figures. We love documentaries and we are documentarians, so we want them to come away inspired by this show.”

Patricia Jackson, Director of Diversity, Inclusion, and Community Life, brought the group to campus and was particularly pleased by the way that the world-class performing artists connected the past to the present and offered a call to action for the future. She said “My heart is filled with gratitude for More than Music’s ‘At the Table with Dr. King.’ I thought long and hard about one of the performer’s references to an old proverb about a rock creating ripples in a pond. He’s right – that action has to be caused by something – a person, a force. The rock doesn’t get to the pond alone.”