On February 12, Wesleyan welcomed the civil rights activist, organizer, author and educator Ruby Sales to deliver the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 2021 annual celebration. Sales is the founder and director of SpiritHouse Project, a 501 (c) 3 national non-profit organization that uses the arts, research, education, action and spirituality to bring together diverse peoples to work for racial, economic and social justice. In the 1960s, Sales joined the Nonviolent Student Coordination Committee (SNCC) at Tuskegee University and went to work as a student freedom fighter in Lowndes County, Alabama. “Not only do blacks survive, but we also try and prosper, because we were privileged to have 111 historically black colleges that produce black doctors, black lawyers, black funeral directors – a blackness that exists in every southern city in the United States – Birmingham; Washington DC; Charleston, South Carolina, ”said Sales. “Yes, there was a plantation system in that, but there was also the magnificent work of the people who built a middle-class existence in a society that did not intend for us to survive.”
Alison Williams ’81, vice president of equity and inclusion and Title IX official, welcomed the public to the event. “I hope that, coming here today and participating, you won’t say, ‘Okay, I did my part for MLK.’ No, this is a call for all of us to get up and work on ourselves, on our campus culture, and become as inclusive and equitable as possible. “
Demetrius Colvin, director of the Wesleyan Resource Center, kicked off the event with one of his favorite civil rights protest songs, “Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around” by Sweet Honey in the Rock. The MLK celebration was sponsored by the Resource Center, Office for Equity and Inclusion, Department of African American Studies and Center for African American Studies, Shapiro Center for Writing, Fries Center for Global Studies and Wesleyan Library.
Colvin presented a slide show in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Dachelle Washington ’22, a singer and songwriter from New York, sang “Lift Every Voice and Sing”, also known as Black National Anthem. “I’m a music major and a minor in African American studies, so I’m really happy to be a part of it, because it kind of connects with everything I do here on campus,” she said. “I met the Black National Anthem for the first time in my predominantly white institution, which we all sing, but no one really spoke about the history of music or that it was really the Black National Anthem. So, I’m excited to sing it today and be part of the mission of today’s program. “
After Sales’s lecture, Christian Denny ’22, a member of the Ujamaa student group, spoke about various Black History Month events taking place in Wesleyan during the month of February. Using the theme “Black radical imaginations”, the events not only honor the traditions of the past, but “illuminate the ways in which blacks – artists, comedians, activists, etc. – find moments of liberation in their daily lives, ”said Denny.