LINCOLN SQUARE — In the spirit of turning Martin Luther King Day into a day "on" not a day "off," Old Town School of Folk Music's singalong for peace and justice drew hundreds of people Monday who honored the civil rights leader with clasped hands during a resounding chorus of "We Shall Overcome."
"We're here to celebrate the work that has gone behind us and the work that awaits us," said Darrell Jones, program manager at Old Town School and one of the organizers of the singalong.
Carol Woodworth and Betsy Storm have spent a number of Martin Luther King Days together, but this year, in the wake of riots in Ferguson and other racially charged incidents, they said they felt more compelled than ever to mark the occasion.
"A lot of people are still working hard to make Martin Luther King's dream come true," said Storm.
Martin Luther King Day has immediate relevance to current culture, added Woodworth.
"It's history, it's the past, but it's also the present and the future," she said of the holiday.
Many of those gathered brought their guitars, banjos, fiddles, tambourines and even accordians to participate in the event, accompanying classic Civil Rights anthems like "Blowin' in the Wind" and John Lennon's ode to peace, "Imagine."
"I think it's important for kids to connect with the meaning of the day," said Julie Sampson, who attended the singalong with husband Anders Lindall and their young daughters Greta and Maja.
"I had never heard these speeches," said Greta, referring to the audio of King's speeches that played between songs.
Economic social justice is something "we try to bring that to every part of our lives, and do it in a way that's celebratory," Lindall said.
Music, and folk music in particular, was such an important part of the Civil Rights movement, Old Town School seemed a natural place for the community to come together and commemorate Martin Luther King Day, said Jimmy Tomasello, an Old Town School instructor who led many of Monday's songs.
"People tell me directly, 'This is my church,'" Tomasello said.
As the singalong came to a close and the words of Dr. King's "I Have a Dream" speech echoed throughout Maurer Hall, Sampson noted, "There's a healing that happens with music."
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