Wednesday, April 4, marks the 50th anniversary of the assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and the Queens Borough Public Library is hosting a day of activities for kids and teens to learn about and honor his legacy.
From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Central Library branch (located at 89-11 Merrick Blvd., Jamaica), Dennis Walcott, president of the Queens Library, will read aloud several children’s books to kids, including “We March,” written and illustrated by Shane W. Evans. The book tells the story of the Aug. 28, 1963, March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, which began at the Washington Monument and ended at the Lincoln Memorial, where Dr. King delivered his famed “I Have a Dream” speech.
The Far Rockaway Branch, located at 2002 Cornaga Ave., will host a game of Kahoot, a learning game where the program leader or content creator designs multiple choice questions around their preferred topic, all about Dr. King. The Queens Library for Teens staff will also facilitate a poetry, hip-hop or sketch activity inspired by Dr. King at 3 p.m.
To finish out the day, at 4 p.m., Walcott will go to the Far Rockaway branch to participate in a forum with teens from the area about Dr. King’s legacy. Two teens will interview Walcott in front of a live audience of their peers for a podcast they are producing about Dr. King’s impact on him and American society. After that, Walcott will interview the kids about what Dr. King means to them.
Dr. King was just 39 years old when an assassin’s bullet struck him down at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, TN, on the night of April 4, 1968. The Atlanta native had been in the city to support striking sanitation workers. The motel where he died is now part of the National Civil Rights Museum, which documents the efforts of Dr. King and others to achieve equality and justice in the United States.
For more information, visit the Queens Library website.
