Evanston Honors Martin Luther King's Legacy
Published: January 13, 2018 Sonja Nordahl, Evanston Now
Evanston honored Martin Luther King Junior in ceremonies and tributes Saturday. ETHS hosted a Y.O.U. annual event, and the city held a celebration at Fleetwood Jourdain Center.
Youth and Opportunity United, or Y.O.U., has been honoring King and his message through art and dance for 12 years. This year the focus also was on women and their role in the civil rights movement.
The youth-led event based this year's tribute on a line from a poem by Audre Lorde, “I am deliberate and afraid of nothing.”
Lorde was one of the first black lesbian leaders in the civil rights movement.
ETHS Diverse Community United members performed a stirring poem at the end of the show that earned a standing ovation.
The show also featured original songs, short films, dance and artwork. The event was interspersed with videotaped interviews with black women leaders in Evanston. Artistic Director Sue McMonagle says about 75 kids have been working on the show since October.