This article was also contributed to by Riley Gastin
Houghton College celebrated their 3rd annual Martin Luther King Day on Monday, January 20th. This event was a day filled with guest speakers, a chapel service featuring the Houghton College gospel choir, breakout sessions highlighting Dr. King’s life and movement, a dinner catered by LaVerdad Cafe in Buffalo, and an evening of jazz provided by the Sonder Jazz Trio. Monday was a day to learn and celebrate the life of Dr. King. In the words of President Mullen, it is a way to “honor Martin Luther King Jr. and his role in our country’s history.”
Dean of the Chapel, Michael Jordan, revealed that it was once thought that an event like this would not be feasible. He stated that, “Initially, it was just like any other day. However, we knew we wanted to do something to celebrate, but we did not think we could due to requirements about how many days students were expected to attend classes.”
President Mullen was able to shed more light on why it was originally difficult to celebrate MLK Day. “We have not typically taken the day as a holiday—just as we don’t take Labor Day as a holiday in September. This is not because we don’t think these days are important in what they seek to honor, but because they typically come just as the semester is beginning…In the end, we thought it would be more appropriate to make the day a special day of programming on campus about the history and context of Martin Luther King’s legacy.”
One of the events was a performance from the Gospel Choir. This year, the choir is headed by Jordan Simmons (‘22). Simmons expressed enthusiasm about the event as a whole, stating that he liked how “different cultures are represented.” He then went on to express excitement regarding the Gospel Choir performance. He explained that when it came to song choice, they had a group of songs they could choose from, but “If there’s something the group wants to do, then we will try and do it.”
Johanna Florez (‘21), a member of the choir, explains that “The chosen songs reflect different angles of Christian and African-American experience. The spiritual ‘I’ve Been ‘Buked’ is about suffering as a Christian, and presumably as a slave, and also about maintaining faith through that. On the other end of the spectrum, ‘Hosanna’ is about praising God for how he’s blessed us. So our song choices reflect multiple aspects of having faith in difficult situations.”
Overall, the event was a success, and enjoyed by many. Plenty of unique learning sessions were found throughout campus, and in addition to learning, Martin Luther King Jr. Day was also a time for celebration, as Dean Jordan stated: “This isn’t just a day about learning, but a day about celebrating.”