We all know Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy is inspiring. He took a stance against racial inequality and inspired thousands to courageously and peacefully stand beside him, even in the face of violence. Dr. King’s words and works helped to establish the human rights movement and encouraged individuals to fight for basic rights. He truly pioneered not only human rights activism, but also social activism in general.
Having acquired a Ph.D. in systematic theology, Dr. King clearly placed a high value on education. He also believed the power of education to be similar to the power of potential energy. As Dr. King once said, “education without social action is a one-sided value because it has no true power potential.” In order to instigate change, the pendulum of education needs to drop and swing into motion. Otherwise, time stands still.
A Duke education has great value. As Dr. King points out, however, education without application lacks force. Duke has a rich history of student-led social change, especially with regards to the civil rights movement during the late 1960s. In 1967, the Afro-American Society staged a “study-in” in order to prohibit the use of segregated facilities. The students occupied the lobby and halls leading to University President Douglas M. Knight’s office. After three days, Knight eventually agreed to the students’ terms. In 1969, as many as 75 black students occupied and barricaded the Allen Building, which they had temporarily renamed the Malcolm X Liberation School. While inside the Allen Building, students negotiated with the administration to an ultimately peaceful end, while the rambunctious crowd gathered outside clashed with police, resulting in the use of tear gas against some Duke students. After Dr. King’s death in 1968, a student-led vigil was held in front of the Duke Chapel, a stirring demonstration that at times drew up to 1500 students. Remaining silent for days to commemorate the great loss of Dr. King, these students were a part of what is now one of the largest demonstrations in Duke’s history. Over 40 years ago, Duke students truly embodied the philosophy of Dr. King—their intelligence held power due to action.
Some may reminisce longingly for the activist culture of the civil rights era and argue that Duke students today lack a genuine drive for, and commitment to, social activism. But we’d argue that’s simply not true. The spirit of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the vigor and passion of the civil rights era for changing society still lives on at Duke today. Just yesterday on MLK Day, a large group of Duke students gathered for a commemorative sit-in in front of the Chapel and showed that students today have the same fire for addressing global inequalities as the students before us.
Under the surface of these memorial demonstrations, however, we find that many students actually are taking action and fostering sustainable change within the immediate realm of their organizations. Students exist who aren’t complacent about the status quo, but are fixated on transforming it. Just like our student predecessors half a century ago, we’re not content with apathy—we want action.
Today we may not stage marches, barricade buildings or even get tear-gassed, but we do pitch tents to occupy Duke and build houses to address the local housing crisis (Habitat for Humanity). We may not take over buildings to protest apartheid, but we have founded and maintained a school in Kenya to address gender disparities in education and health (WISER). We may not hold demonstrations against racial and gender segregation, but we do run programs to address the gender gap in science and math education (FEMMES). Social action is not a thing of the past; it is in our blood here at Duke.
The Chronicle Editorial Board recently urged Duke to “dedicate ourselves to changing [truly important campus issues] in a courageous and unselfish fashion.” We agree. The Duke Partnership for Service will be running a weekly column “Think Globally, Act Locally,” where leaders of 10 student organizations will address the global injustice their group is trying to tackle—be it access to healthcare, educational inequality or human rights—and provide a local call to action for students to get involved on the ground right here, right now. In the past, Duke students have stood up to address significant and far-reaching issues in order to shape and cultivate their society’s landscape. Today, we can do the same by rallying together.
Martin Luther King Jr. not only dreamed of a better world.... He fought for it. What kind of world do you dream of?
Lauren Brown and Nancy Yang are Trinity seniors and members of Duke Partnership for Service (dPS). This column is the first installment in a semester-long series of weekly columns written by dPS members addressing civic service and engagement at Duke.
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