Chicago Professor Uses Wisdom Of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. To Inform Her Teaching
CHICAGO (CBS) -- On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Dr. King's words speak to the issues America faces today.
As CBS 2's Jim Williams reports, one college professor uses his wisdom in her Chicago classroom.
As a longtime educator and chair of the Chicago State University English department, Kelly Norman Ellis examines the world around her, looking for lessons she can weave into her teaching of literature. Her approach to the work is always evolving.
"It may seem like a little thing, but simply revising my syllabus in my classes to reflect America -- who we really are -- the good and the bad," she said.
Guidance on interpreting the world can be found in the words of Shakespeare or Toni Morrison or Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Nearly 53 years after his assassination, Dr. King's speeches, interviews and activism offer fresh commentary on today's ills: police misconduct, the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, the insurrection at the Capitol.
"Some people said, 'Well, oh, I'm so shocked that this happened at the Capitol building,'" Ellis said. "I don't think Dr. King would have been shocked. I think he would have been horrified. But remember, he was living through lynchings, you know, the four little girls of Birmingham, Goodman Chaney Schwerner, and Mississippi. So he knew what our culture was capable of. He was a realist. "
As millions march in a never ending quest for racial justice, Ellis is reminded of a poster than hangs in her husband's office:
"Dr. King and it's 'Almost always, the creative dedicated minority has made the world better,'" she said.
Dr. King also spoke out against poverty and as we've seen this year the pandemic has had an especially devastating impact on the poor. His words are timeless.
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