For more information or to ask questions and register for events that require it, please head to the MHC Events Calendar page. Below, you can find basic information about what's going to be happening on campus and virtually in January.
Monday, January 15, 2024
We should all consider this to be a day on, not a day off. Consider volunteering in your local community in ways that are healthy and safe for you.
National Day of Racial Healing Livestream, hosted by the W.K. Kellogg FoundationTuesday, January 16, 2024
This annual observance is hosted by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF) and was created with and builds on the work and learnings of the Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation (TRHT) community partners. Fundamental to this day is a clear understanding that racial healing is at the core of racial equity. This day is observed every year on the Tuesday following Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Register for one or more virtual events commemorating the day, or watch the Changing the Narrative digital series documenting stories from communities across the country where people are working together to create lasting change (available anytime).
The W.K. Kellogg Foundation has also collected action kits for all types of participants to support and engage with racial healing in their communities:
Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Racial Healing Community with LaTosha BrownTuesday, January 16 at 9:00am
On Tuesday, January 16 at 9 am join the live streaming of the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Racial Healing Community with LaTosha Brown. Please join us in community to contemplate our shared values, celebrate our common humanity, and inspire collective action to create a more just and equitable world. Our featured speaker is author, activist, and jazz singer, LaTosha Brown. Brown is a contributor to The New York Times and a Senior Practice Fellow at the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. As co-founder of the Black Voters Matter Fund organization, LaTosha is dedicated to increasing the political power of Black people. A special thanks to our friends at UMass Amherst for not only leading this event but sharing it with the Mount Holyoke Community.
Open to students, alums, faculty, and staff.
The Poetics of Racial Healing: Holding the Pain and Possibilities Together, Clint Smith in conversation with Undergraduate StudentsTuesday, January 16 from 7:00pm to 8:00pm
To mark the eighth annual National Day of Racial Healing, we are joining together as AAC&U Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation Centers—Spelman College, Sewanee: The University of the South, and Mount Holyoke College—along with the Joseph and Evelyn Lowery Institute for Justice and Human Rights and the Andrew Young Center for Global Leadership at Morehouse College to host award-winning author Clint Smith in conversation with undergraduate students eager to deepen our understanding of how we can hold the pain and possibilities of racial healing together.
Open to students, alums, faculty, staff, and the general public.
Intergroup Dialogue (IGD) WorkshopThursday, January 18 from 8:30am to 4:00pm at the Willits-Hallowell Center
What is IGD?
Intergroup Dialogue (IGD) is a nationally recognized academic, credit-bearing program that originated at the University of Michigan (UM) in 1988 as a means of addressing racial tension on campus; its primary goal is to support faculty/staff/student learning and competencies around inter- and intra-group relations, conflict, and social justice across a range of social identities.
The Workshop: An Introduction to IGD Pedagogy
The workshop is designed for MHC faculty and Student Life staff invested in building their fluency for addressing race and other diversity-related issues in the classroom and in co-curricular programming. Dr. Kristie Ford (Professor of CRPE and Sociology) and Dr. Molly Keehn (Visiting Part-Time Lecturer in the Intergroup Dialogue Program) will facilitate the two-days, which will be both theoretical and experiential – emphasizing learning by doing. Participants will learn about foundational work related to IGD theory and pedagogy and engage in personal self-reflective exercises that illustrate dialogic pedagogy.
Sponsored by: Intergroup Dialogue
Open to faculty and staff.
Storytelling: A Powerful Tool in Our Struggle for Social Justice, Feminist Activist, Writer, and Storyteller Jamia Wilson in conversation with President Danielle R. HolleyThursday, January 25 from 7:00pm to 8:00pm, Blanchard Hall, Gamble Auditorium
Mount Holyoke is honored to host feminist activist, writer and storyteller Jamia Wilson in conversation with President Holley for this year’s Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King Commemorative Keynote—Storytelling: A Powerful Tool in Our Struggle for Social Justice.
This keynote conversation will highlight the importance of social justice activist traditions and the power of storytelling to inspire new generations of activists.
There will be a book signing and light refreshments to follow. To join the event virtually, please register here: https://mtholyoke.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_QisNQwL1RyuRjHL6o7aa_w#/registration.
Jamia is an award-winning feminist activist, writer, speaker, and podcaster. She joined Random House as vice president and executive editor in 2021. As the former director of the Feminist Press at the City University of New York and the former VP of programs at the Women’s Media Center, Jamia has been a leading voice on women’s rights issues for over a decade. Her work has appeared in numerous outlets, including the New York Times, the Today Show, CNN, Elle, BBC, Rookie, Refinery 29, Glamour, Teen Vogue, and The Washington Post. She is the author of This Book Is Feminist, Young, Gifted, and Black, the introduction and oral history in Together We Rise: Behind the Scenes at the Protest Heard Around the World, Step Into Your Power: 23 Lessons on How to Live Your Best Life, Big Ideas for Young Thinkers, ABC's of AOC, and the co-author of Roadmap for Revolutionaries: Resistance, Advocacy, and Activism for All. Jamia is passionate about mission-driven organizations and serves on the Omega Institute, ERA Coalition and Center for Reproductive Rights boards, and the St. Timothy’s School Advisory Council. She is also the co-host of the second season of the Anthem Award-winning podcast, Ordinary Equality.
Learn more about Jamia Wilson on her website: https://www.jamiawilson.com/
Open to students, alums, faculty, staff, and the general public.
Martin Luther King Jr. Christian Service with Professor Meredith Coleman-TobiasSunday, January 28 from 11:00am to 12:00pm, Abbey Chapel, Main Chapel
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once stated, “Love is one of the pinnacle parts of the Christian faith. There is another side called justice, and justice is really love in calculation." Guided by his Christian faith, Dr. King led a movement engaged in direct action through non-violent civil protest. Dr. King worked alongside individuals who were of a variety of faiths, races, ethnicities, genders and sexualities in his quest for freedom and justice for all people. Each year at Mount Holyoke, the Daughters of Zion, the Religious and Spiritual Life team of the Office of Community and Belonging and the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion collaborate to celebrate Dr. King’s faith and its impact.
Open to students, alums, faculty, staff, and the general public.
Building Solidarity: Fighting Antisemitism and Islamophobia Together with Dr. Imani Romney-Rosa Chapman and Dr. Amer AhmedMonday, January 29 from 7:00pm to 8:30pm
Each year, Mount Holyoke College’s Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King Series on Racial Justice and Reconciliation includes an antisemitism teach-in. In our work to realize a collective, anti-racist future, we delve deeply into understanding the history of judeophobia and antisemitism and their connections to racism as well as develop our capacities to combat everyday xenophobia. This year, we are launching our antisemitism teach-in with a conversation thoughtfully curated by Dr. Imani Romney-Rosa Chapman and Dr. Amer Ahmed. “Building Solidarity: Fighting Antisemitism and Islamophobia Together” will center the interconnectedness of the past and present struggles against antisemitism and islamophobia and help participants to better understand how prejudice and hate speech can contribute to violence, mass atrocity and genocide.
Open to students, alums, faculty, staff, and the general public.
Healing Begins Within and Reflects Infinitely, an homage to Coretta Scott King with Kai Cheng ThomWednesday, January 31 from 11:30am to 1:00pm
Join us for a talk with Kai Cheng Thom that will explore the importance of self, community and collective healing in our efforts toward racial healing. Without centering healing, pleasure, honesty, and vulnerability down to a cellular level, one cannot transform themselves towards a transformed world. Self care transforms communal care; healing oneself heals the whole. In a world that prioritizes individuality, how can one purposefully center themselves towards meaningful transformation of the collective? Coretta Scott King beautifully illustrated the possibilities of outcome in how she used her deep grief to transform herself. Grounded in her healing, she worked to upholding and continue the Kingian legacy of committing to constantly developing a progressive politic. She was not afraid of change and transformation within herself, and thus was able to support her community’s healing, exploring and unraveling of deeply held racial biases and racist systems.
This event is being conducted over Zoom. As the host, Mount Holyoke College reserves the right to record this session and the event sponsors will give prior notification to event participants of any intention to do so. The recording feature for others is disabled so that no one else will be able to record this session through Zoom. At all times, no recording by any other means is permitted without prior written permission from the event sponsor or as an approved accommodation.
Open to students, alums, faculty, staff, and the general public.
Falling Back in Love with Being Human: Circle Healing with Kai Cheng ThomWednesday, January 31 from 7:00pm to 8:30am
Community members are invited to attend this healing event on the last day of MLK/CSK week of racial healing. In an attempt to honor King’s legacy on holistic care and authentic healing, we invite folks to join “Falling Back in Love with Being Human” author Kai Cheng Thom in this evening event.
Open to students, alums, faculty, and staff.
