MLK Day celebrations at Peabody, New Haven Museum encourage children to dream
Martin Luther King Jr. Day brought together New Haven families and Yalies for a festive day of crafts, poetry and music.

Tina Li, Contributing Photographer
“Oh Lord, give us freedom,” sang several dozen schoolchildren, guided by singers from Shades of Yale. Their final notes of the day were met with waves of applause from parents and neighbors.
On Monday, the Yale Peabody Museum and the New Haven Museum partnered to host the 29th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Legacy of Social and Environmental Justice celebration. The event celebrated King’s legacy, particularly how environmental activists were inspired by his message and tactics of peaceful protest and legal action. Families made crafts, watched artists and showcased talents in a poetry open mic and a drum circle. Afterward, attendees wandered through Peabody’s exhibits.
“Having that environmental focus is a cool angle on Dr. King’s legacy. Along with social and racial justice, we’re thinking about how we fit into our Earth,” Andrea Motto, Peabody’s assistant director of public education and outreach, said.
In the New Haven Museum’s book nook, children wrote their dreams on paper stars and clouds to add to a colorful community crafts mobile. The museum also hosted several local storytellers earlier in the day: Joy Donaldson, who told fables and anecdotes about King, and author Flavia Albert who read from her book about patience and friendship, “Lou’s New Trick.”

Upstairs, a cappella group Shades of Yale led a children’s workshop, guiding kids through warbling warm-ups and songs such as “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” which they referred to as the Black National Anthem.
“It does mean a lot for us to come to an event on MLK day and show [the children] a group of 16 young, thriving Black students at a school like Yale University, that, historically is not always inaccessible to people in certain communities, specifically in New Haven, [which] has such a complicated relationship with Yale,” said Aman Fikre ’26, a member of Shades.
They also taught the children techniques to round their mouths and sing from their diaphragm to create a round, warm tone — one Shades members identified as integral to the music of the African diaspora and African American tradition.
After the musical workshop, families walked a block up Whitney Avenue to the Peabody Museum, some children humming the tunes they were just practicing.
The lower level of the Peabody Museum was dedicated to social and environmental justice-oriented activities. At one table, the Greater New Haven African American Historical Society handed out pamphlets of New Haven Black history walking tours and King-themed puzzles.

Organizers from Students for Educational Justice brought crafts supplies for children to make dream clouds. Children wrote down wishes for themselves, their community and the world and strung them to create a dreamcatcher. Some kids wrote down “more safe bike lanes” or “an end to pollution;” others dreamed of stopping wars or becoming peace ambassadors. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech played in the background.
Rashanda McCollum, executive director of Students for Educational Justice, said that families from all over the state came to the event.
All day, Marsh Lecture Hall was nearly filled to capacity with people watching the community open mic and poetry slam in honor of King’s legacy.
Local poet-performer Jason “J-Sun” Dorsey’s energized poem on conformity, which rhymed “McDonaldized” with “hip-hopitized” and “Trumpitized,” received a standing ovation.
Croilot Carlos Adames, host of the slam, said that the organizers plan to propose that Yale host a national slam in New Haven. With University funds, they could invite poets from across the nation to compete over MLK weekend.
Back at the Peabody, the day of festivities was concluding with a sonorous and expressive drum circle, bolstered by three carts-worth of percussion instruments and the energy of local drummer Michael Mills, a long-time staple of the annual event.

Maya Gant, an organizer at the Peabody, explained that this year’s event has promoted a truer partnership between the Peabody and New Haven, with community partners stepping up in organizing efforts and with a stronger focus on uplifting local artists. The Peabody plans to host school field trips, performances and panels in celebration of Black History Month.
“We’re extending our hand to say, ‘We want you here,’ ‘You matter here’ and that things regarding identity matter here as well,” Gant said, “That’s something Dr. Martin Luther King championed.”
Martin Luther King Jr. Day is observed on the third Monday of the year