Celebrating Martin Luther King Day at The Bruce Museum

Play performances and a new exhibit will mark the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Family Day at The Bruce Museum on Monday.

The museum will be open with free admission on Monday, Jan. 18 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Bright Star Theatre Company

The event features fun family activities inspired by current exhibits as well as performances by Bright Star Theatre Company. The 11 a.m. performance of George Washington Carver and Friends, designed for families with children ages 3 to 8, presents a fast-paced, hilarious and inspiring introduction to some of the most influential black Americans of the last 150 years, including Booker T. Washington, Jackie Robinson, and Thurgood Marshall.

At 1 p.m., Struggle for Freedom: The Life of Dr. King celebrates the work and life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in the context of the American Civil Rights Movement. Best for ages 8 and up, this production features songs from the era and offers of the key moments such as the heroic work of Rosa Parks as she refuses to give up her seat and the March on Washington.

New Exhibit

The new exhibit And Still We Rise: Race, Culture and Visual Conversations, uses the medium of story quilts, this exhibition narrates nearly four centuries of African American history, from the first slave ships to the first African American president and beyond.

Through 40 quilts from artists of the Women of Color Quilters Network, the exhibition reveals the stories of freedom’s heroes, ranging from Phillis Wheatley to Frederick Douglass to the Tuskegee Airmen.

Story quilting expands on traditional textile-arts techniques to record, in fabric, events of personal or historical significance. Through the accessibility of their colors, patterns and symbols, the quilts of And Still We Rise relate narratives that encourage conversations about sensitive topics in national history and racial reconciliation in America.

The exhibit is curated by Dr. Carolyn Mazloomi and organized by Cincinnati Museum Center, the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, and the Women of Color Quilters Network.​

The museum will also host related craft activities in the Education Workshop for all ages throughout the day on Monday.

Contributed photos: The Bright Star Theatre Co. and Lucy Terry Prince: The Griot’s Voice, 2012 by Peggie Hartwell.