MLK50: Bearing Witness

On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s death, John Burroughs School will host a program on Dr. King and the Civil Rights Movement at 6 pm, Wednesday, April 4, in Haertter Performing Arts Center, 755 S. Price Road, St. Louis. The opening reception for a companion exhibit, “Bearing Witness: Photographs of the Civil Rights Movement” will follow in the Bonsack Gallery. The evening is sponsored by the JBS Community & Equity Partnership and the Fine Arts Advisory Committee.

During the program, Burroughs history teachers — Dr. Mark Smith, John Merritt and Dr. Carrie Dodson-Ching — will share historical perspectives on Dr. King’s past, his words and actions, the meaning of his death and his enduring legacy. Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis executive director Lisa Melandri will then provide context in which to examine important artistic expressions of peace, power, praise and protest, focusing on photographs by Memphis-based photojournalist Ernest Withers (1922-2007), on loan from the Withers Collection Museum and Gallery (Memphis).

The exhibit, “Bearing Witness: Photographs of the Civil Rights Movement by Ernest C. Withers,” in the school’s Bonsack Gallery will feature compelling black-and-white photographs taken between 1961 and 1968. The exhibit will run through May 16, 2018.