Honoring the Past, Building the Future: MLK Week at NMH

Last week, Northfield Mount Hermon honored the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement during its annual MLK Week celebration. The diverse lineup of events, speakers, artistic tributes, and classroom discussions explored themes of legacy, community, and how students today can carry forward the fight for equity and justice.

The celebration kicked off Jan. 16 with a special performance by the NMH Jazz Trio. The following Monday, at the all-school meeting, Student Diversity Committee members Abby Ngungu ’28 and Ashley Valdez Gervacio ’28 shared how the Civil Rights Movement influenced their journeys to NMH, recounting the complex feelings they experienced about leaving their homes and families.  

“Even as laws and institutions change, the idea of students like us attending a boarding school remains culturally distant for many back home,” said Ngungu. “Kids like us didn't have the resources to afford higher education, and these setbacks fed into negative stereotypes of boarding school.”

Gervacio and Ngungu, who are roommates, spoke of the comfort they found in each other and their shared experiences and reflected on the inherent power of their roles within the broader history of educational equity.

“Dr. King's courage did not end with his life: It sparked movements, shaped policies, and inspired generations to claim spaces once closed to them,” Gervacio said. “In walking these halls together, we are living proof that dreams pursued with courage can create real change, opening doors that were once closed and giving hope to those who follow.”

Camerata Baltimore

On Monday evening, NMH welcomed gospel group Camerata Baltimore back to campus. The choral ensemble, which has partnered with NMH for the past 11 years, led a gospel master class workshop for the school choir and other interested community members.

The group’s visit culminated Tuesday night in a gospel performance in Memorial Chapel, where the NMH choir joined Camerata Baltimore members onstage for a rousing performance.

SDC member Mikayla Cisneros ’28 said the performance was the highlight of MLK Week for her. “When they turn off the lights in the chapel and we all turn on our flashlights — it’s so beautiful,” she said. “The whole community becomes one for a second, all united in singing.”

It’s that power to bring people together that made music such a central part of the Civil Rights Movement and King’s work, said Camerata Baltimore Artistic Director James Mayo III. Camerata Baltimore’s relationship with the NMH community serves as an example of music’s ability to forge connections.

“Whatever positive message they can take from the music, spread to others, and show it through their behaviors, their actions, and their good deeds — that's what we're hoping for,” he said.

Guest speakers

On Wednesday, NMH welcomed keynote speaker Dr. Joshua Bennett, an award-winning poet and distinguished chair of humanities at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Bennett shared several poems with students and reflected on the idea of legacy.

“Whenever we talk about Dr. King, I think it's important that we remember him not just as a symbol, but as something we in the poetry world call a ‘metonym’: the one that represents the many,” Bennett said. “There are so many names we don't know, people who fought for freedom and for this to be a better country.”

Bennett emphasized the importance of looking beyond the iconography of famous civil rights figures to understand their humanity: their personal histories, influences, shortcomings, and the ways those experiences shaped their work.

Poetry and the study of the humanities allow people an entry point into the humanness of these historic figures and movements, he said. “When you read the great poets, they leave these little time capsules for us to turn to. I hope the students take away that they're part of a tradition and that they can call upon its treasuries whenever they need to.”

Sam Robbins ’26 said Bennett was “the perfect speaker for this moment” and noted the importance of viewing King’s efforts within the continuum of the fight for justice.

“King was an integral and celebrated worker, a mason in this great work,” Robbins said, “but if all we do is celebrate the bricks that he laid, we're neglecting the fact that this building doesn't have a roof yet. I felt like Dr. Bennett's contributions to our observance of MLK Week were laying new bricks, in a way that is really in the spirit of the builder and not just the building.”

Thursday brought further introspection on the evolving nature of King’s legacy, as students joined Dr. Hajar Yazdiha, an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Southern California, via Zoom for a discussion of her book “The Struggle for the People’s King,” excerpts of which were used in Friday’s MLK Week teach-in day.

Yazdiha, the daughter of Iranian refugees, spoke about her upbringing and her research, fielding questions about the role young people play in shaping the collective understanding of American history.

“In 1967, a time of great social unrest and uncertainty not unlike that which we face today, Dr. King famously asked, ‘Where do we go from here: chaos or community?’” Yazdiha said. “I'm going to argue that our collective memory is one of the most powerful tools at our disposal, that memories of the past can be transformative, changing the way that we understand ourselves and our world, and giving us the tools to chart a hopeful path forward.”

“The Struggle for the People’s King” documents the evolution of the collective memory of King, examining how political groups and ideologues, many of whom were ideologically opposed to King’s activism, have attempted to co-opt or whitewash aspects of the civil rights leader’s work and message to suit their own political aims.

“The danger of a distorted memory is that it evades social reality,” Yazdiha told students. “If we want to move forward collectively as a society, we have to honestly reckon with the past and how it shapes our present.”

Luisa Ortiz ’26 said Yazdiha’s approach to such a complex topic resonated with her and revealed an aspect of King’s legacy she had not previously considered. “I really want people to realize and to see that words hold significance,” Ortiz said. “MLK Week has opened a way to more places where I can discuss things that are going on around campus and worldwide, spread that discussion, and spread what fellow SDC members think into the wider community.”

Gallery reception and International Carnival

Friday concluded with a reception celebrating an exhibit in The Gallery at the Rhodes Arts Center, “Pieces of HerStory: A Fabric Collage Celebration of Black Women” by textile artist Kasandra Pantoja. The exhibit features 32 fabric portraits of notable Black women throughout history, including 11 NMH alumnae and one former parent. The artist, her family, and several of the featured alumnae were on hand for the reception. Ashanda Saint Jean ’90, an associate professor at New York Medical College and former chair of obstetrics and gynecology at Health Alliance Hospitals, said she was “humbled and honored” to be among those featured.

“I can't even express in words the fondness of the memories that I have collected while I was here,” Saint Jean said. “The framework and the foundation of what D.L. Moody built, with the head, the heart, and the hand, understanding the importance of workjob and discipline and how that has helped me in terms of my work ethic for my whole life. I've been an OB-GYN for 27 years, and a lot of the foundation of what I do is what I learned here.”

MLK Week concluded Saturday night as the NMH community braved frigid temperatures to celebrate the return of a beloved tradition, the International Carnival.

Students and faculty representing 19 countries, regions, and ethnic groups from around the world offered samples of traditional dishes from their cultures, in addition to a musical performance by NMH’s World Percussion Ensemble.

The cumulative effect of MLK Week, from the speakers and performances to the visual and culinary displays, is intended to help students recognize their place in history and their power to effect change, said Dr. James Greenwood, NMH’s dean of equity and social justice.

“There's power in students realizing how much of that activism was student-led and student-generated,” Greenwood said. “It feels especially germane in this moment, when we are seeing attempts to control what types of things get taught and whose stories get told. It’s a prime time to give our students the opportunity to engage, question, and challenge those narratives. We want to make sure we're painting the full picture and giving them the tools and curiosity to explore that further.”

— Max Hunt

Photos by Lindsey Topham Photography and Matthew Cavanaugh Photography. See more scenes from MLK Week on Flickr.