“As the world celebrates the 60th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s historic ‘I Have a Dream’ speech and the March on Washington, we were honored to host Martin Luther King III and his family for a fireside chat,” said alum and board member Victor Abiamiri ’03 after the commemoration event at Brown Advisory, where he is co-head of the Baltimore private client group. 

On Monday, August 28, several alumni as well as Community, Inclusion, and Equity (CIE) staff from Gilman — including former longtime Director of CIE Johnnie Foreman — attended the gathering. “The purpose was to reflect on the anniversary, recognize the legacy and continuing work of the King family, and connect with leaders in the ongoing fight to realize Dr. King’s vision of a world free from racism, poverty and violence,” Abiamiri said.

Assistant Head of School for CIE Michael Molina shared: “Mr. and Mrs. King described the work of civil rights and the work of equity and justice ahead with such balance between the philosophical and political. A particularly poignant moment was a core memory Mr. King III shared about the image of his father, Dr. King, walking up the stairs of their home with the weight of all that he was carrying visible, only to be rejuvenated by seeing his children. It really brought home the deep sacrifice of Dr. King and the deep well of love he had to do so much for the world and do his best to be present for his children.”

Director of CIE for Pre-K through Grade 8 Joe Valentine-White reflected: “For me, after taking our students on the civil rights trip this summer and visiting Dr. King's childhood home on a separate journey in July, it was a surreal experience to meet his son and hear him advocate for economic and social justice on the 60th anniversary of the March on Washington. Mrs. King also did an excellent job highlighting the work that we all must do to continue Dr. King's efforts and turn the ‘Dream’ into a reality in our current context.”

Abiamiri added, “To me, it was interesting to hear MLK III share stories about what MLK II was like as a father through his perspective. We’ve all heard about and know him as a civil rights leader, but the additional color on how he interacted with his family was pretty cool to hear.”