The DCAN family wishes you a happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day and encourages you to do something inspiring and impactful in remembrance of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s influence on the Civil Rights Movement. We also want to uplift his fight for equity in education, allowing organizations like DCAN to thrive.
Dr. King believed that education enables people to become more efficient and increasingly equipped to achieve the legitimate goals of their lives. King spoke about the power of education and its ability to transform lives, communities, and cultures. King attended Morehouse College, a Historically Black College and University (HBCU). In his submission entitled "The Purpose of Education" for the campus's literary journal, The Maroon Tiger, King states, "The complete Education gives one not only power of concentration, but worthy objectives upon which to concentrate. The broad education will, therefore, transmit to one not only the accumulated knowledge of the race but also the accumulated experience of social living." Dr. King fought against the systemic racism implemented against African-Americans that remains in place today and continues to disempower marginalized people. He stated that "education is one of the vital tools the Negro needs in order to advance. And yet it has been denied him by devices of segregation and manipulations with quality." King was staunchly dedicated to ensuring the civil rights of Black people around the country and the city of Detroit, including the right to education.
Dr. King in Detroit
On June 23, Dr. King led the Walk for Freedom, a massive march of 125,000 people and the largest civil rights demonstration in American history to date, through Detroit in the fight to gain more rights for African-Americans. He stated, "I have a dream this afternoon; the Detroit Walk to Freedom...the first and main purpose of the march…was to speak out against segregation and the brutality that met civil rights activists in the South while at the same time addressing concerns of African Americans in the urban North: inequality in hiring practices, wages, education, and housing." Dr. King's fight for our rights lasted throughout the 1950s and much of the 1960s and produced many advancements for creating free, accessible, and quality education that every student deserves; there is still much work to be done. DCAN stands on the shoulders of change-makers like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and is committed to continuing his legacy. |
