MLK Day 2024.
Martin Luther King’s birthday is a federal holiday in the United States.
There will be parades and speeches and volunteer work days.
There will be remembrances, reflections and recommitments.
My remembrance is the quote from Dr. King: “No one is free until we are all free.”
Powerful stuff, that is.
The Glover Gardens blog is primarily about food, nature, poetry, travel, stories and photography, but social justice underpins everyone’s ability to enjoy those things—or not. “No one is free until we are all free.”
All you need to do is glance at the news to see the myriad of ways in which humans all over the world—including in the United States—are not truly free.
So here’s a repost of two earlier Glover Gardens articles, in honor of MLK Day.
Martin Luther King and Langston Hughes were friends and acquaintances, and it is widely accepted that Dr. King was influenced by Hughes’ poetry. More than 20 years older than King, Hughes was born into an America that was even more unequal than the nation MLK inspired to examine its racism in the 50s and 60s with his wisdom and oratory.
According to W. Jason Miller in his book, ‘Origins of the Dream: Hughes’s Poetry and King’s Rhetoric‘, seven of Hughes’ poems heavily influenced King: “Mother to Son,” “Youth,” “I Dream a World,” “Brotherly Love,” “Dream Deferred,” “Poem for a Man” and “Let America Be America Again.”
I think Hughes’ “Freedom’s Plow” must also have been an influence. The idea, disappointment in and yet remaining promise of the American dream is woven through that powerful poem in a way that resonates today. I hope you’ll click on the post above and read it.
Can We Get Along Peacefully Together Like the Birds?
Dr. King: “We may have all come on different ships, but we’re in the same boat now.”
I dream of a day when we can all get along in harmony, like these shorebirds in Bay St. Louis. They may look like one flock, but there are at least ten different species in it.
© 2024, Glover Gardens
Thank you for caring and reflecting on freedom Kim. Sadly to me, it seems we are moving more toward control and chaos than freedom.
I hear and validate you. It DOES feel that way. MLK’s lesson is to persevere anyway, right? Even while we acknowledge the control and chaos reigning (or expanding, at least).