MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. DAY ASSEMBLY

On Friday, January 16th, Rosenblatt High School commemorated Martin Luther King, Jr. Day with a Town Hall presentation by History teachers Nicholas Belotto and Gary Friedman.  The purpose of their presentation was to provide the historical context and perspective that would enable the students to better understand and appreciate the meaning and significance of this important national holiday.  

Mr. Friedman began the presentation by making the point that Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is about more than just Dr. King; it is about the larger civil rights movement that he led and, even more broadly, about the struggle for civil rights that goes back to the early history of our country.

Mr. Friedman then introduced Mr. Belotto, who proceeded to give a very informative talk in which he traced the origins of the civil rights struggle to slavery and the Civil War. He concluded by focusing on the unfulfilled legacy of the period of postwar Reconstruction and the ways in which the gains of that period were undone in the late 19th century.   Throughout his talk, Mr. Belotto highlighted the indispensable role that Abraham Lincoln played in the origins and development of civil rights.  

Mr. Friedman picked up where Mr. Belotto left off, as he began his part of the presentation by discussing Brown vs. Board of Education, the famous U.S. Supreme Court decision that reversed Plessy vs. Ferguson, the late 19th century case that had upheld racial segregation.    He went on to dramatically highlight major episodes in the modern civil rights struggle, including the efforts of “the Little Rock Nine” to de-segregate that city’s Central High School, the de-segregation of the Universities of Mississippi and Alabama, the “Freedom Rides,” the voting rights campaign and the “Mississippi Burning” case, and the tragic assassinations of Dr. King and Senator Robert Kennedy.  Mr. Friedman incorporated several interesting video clips into his presentation, as well.