Not Just Another Day Off (2019)

Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech at the March on Washington. Library of Congress.

On January 21, 2019 at 10:00am, the O.B. Hardison Poetry Series, with award-winning poet Marilyn Nelson, celebrated the spirit of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. with poetry and historical speeches from Dr. King, Shirley Chisholm, Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln, Sojourner Truth, and others. The event also featured actors Sara Barker, Fatima Quander, and Jeremy Hunter and took place in the Folger's Elizabethan Theatre. Nelson's books include The Homeplace and a crown of sonnets called A Wreath for Emmett Till.

The Folger also collected donations of non-perishable food items for a local Capitol Hill food pantry at the Lutheran Church of the Reformation.

This event was co-sponsored by the Lannan Center for Poetics and Social Practice at Georgetown University.