Martin Luther King, Jr. Day 2021
Virtual Toolkit
Grow and Learn Together
We’ve put together educational options and virtual volunteering activities to help you promote and reflect upon Dr. King’s legacy. There are activities suitable for different ages– from family friendly to more grown-up.
MLK Coloring Pages
This one is great for the whole family! Color together and talk about who Dr. King was, what he stood for, and how we can do our part to make our world a better place
MLK/FBI on Netflix
Most appropriate for teens and up, this documentary on Netflix exposes J. Edgar Hoover and the U.S. government’s surveillance and harassment of Dr. King, who was labeled by the FBI as the “most dangerous” Black person in America.
“I Have a Dream”
Watch one of the speeches that defined the 20th century and made Congress move faster to pass the Civil Rights Act.
Volunteer Virtually
Pandemic-safe ways to volunteer and help others in need.
Donate to a local food pantry
Find an Indianapolis pantry →
20 Items Food Pantries Need →Call an elderly neighbor to check up on them.
Write letters to seniors in long-term care facilities
Love Our Elders →
Help increase Black homeownership
Volunteer →Contact a local non-profit and inquire about any upcoming outdoor clean-up day events
Books we’re reading
Learn how to actively oppose racism and promote the inclusion and equality of our BIPOC community members.
One of the best ways to learn about anti-racism is reading.
So you want to talk about race by Ijeoma Oluo
In this bestseller, Seattle author Ijeoma Oluo prompts all races to start having honest conversations about race. She prompts questions to start unpacking racism within reader’s own social networks. She tackles subjects ranging from microaggressions to racist remarks.
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Agee of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
In "The New Jim Crow," legal scholar Michelle Alexander asserts that "we have not ended racial caste in America; we have merely redesigned it." Learn how the ‘war on crime’ and the dramatic increase of mass incarcerations of mostly black men is another version slavery and the old Jim Crow laws.
White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin Diangelo
Referring to the defensive moves that white people make when challenged racially, white fragility is characterized by emotions such as anger, fear, and guilt, and by behaviors including argumentation and silence. In this best-selling book, academic, lecturer, and author Robin DiAngelo examines how white fragility develops, how it protects racial inequality, and what we can do to engage more constructively.