The Asheville School is taking a look at some local history surrounding the Civil Rights Movement during the week of Martin Luther King's birthday, beginning today, January 16:

Beginning today, Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday, Asheville School will spend a week looking back and celebrating the Civil Rights Movement. The focus will be especially on students, looking at the Little Rock Nine, James Meredith, and the desegregation of Asheville City Schools.

On Friday morning, January 20, two African-American Asheville School alumni, Gil Prince ‘71, Chairman of the Asheville School Board of Trustees, and Greg Morris ‘72, trustee, will return to campus to join former faculty member Doc Embler in talking about their roles in breaking down Asheville School's racial barrier in the late sixties.

"This roundtable discussion will lead our current Asheville School students to think about their school's role in this important time in history and give them the opportunity to think about what they may have done as the world around them shifted," said humanities teacher Tim Plaehn.

Following lunch on Monday, every classroom in Mitchell will hear a recording of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have A Dream” speech. The rest of the week will be filled with screenings of “The Lunch Date” and “Eyes on the Prize” and various related workshops. Topics for some of these student- and faculty-led workshops include: The Souls of Palestinian Folk: Arabs and Israelis in the 21st Century; Has There Been a Civil Rights Movement for People with Disabilities?; White Racial Identity; Foster Care: A Brother From Another Mother; Would King Occupy Wall Street? and many others.

Meanwhile, the Christian Science Monitor has assembled a list of the most significant peaceful protests brought to the nation by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr:

From 1955 until his death in 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. was the dominant leader of the US civil rights movement. Following the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi, the Rev. Dr. King believed that nonviolent protest is the most effective weapon against a racist and unjust society. But it required rallying people to his cause. Here are some of the most revolutionary peaceful protests King led.

1. Montgomery bus boycott, 1955-56

Lasting just over a year, the Montgomery bus boycott was a protest campaign against racial segregation on the public transit system in Montgomery, Ala. The protest began, on Dec. 1, 1955, after African-American Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a bus to a white person. The next day, Dr. King proposed a citywide boycott of public transportation at a church meeting.

The boycott proved to be effective, causing the transit system to run a huge deficit. After all, Montgomery’s black residents not only were the principal boycotters, but also the bulk of the transit system’s paying customers. The situation became so tense that members of the White Citizens' Council, a group that opposed racial integration, firebombed King's house.

To see the rest of this list from the Christian Science Monitor, point your web browser to:
http://news.yahoo.com/martin-luther-king-jr---8-peaceful-protests-that-bolstered-civil-rights.html

About the Asheville School: A nationally acclaimed co-ed college preparatory boarding and day school, Asheville School enrolls approximately 275 students from across the country and overseas. Recent graduates are attending Harvard, Stanford, Columbia, University of Pennsylvania, Cornell, Caltech, UCLA, UNC-Chapel Hill, Davidson, NC State, University of Virginia, Emory, Duke, and Wake Forest, among others.