Coretta Scott King - WKTV Journal

Kathleen Atkins Wilson (1993 Coretta Scott King Award Winner) The Origin of Life on Earth, Introduction page Print, 1992 L.C. and Margaret Walker Gallery A

By Marguerite Curran
Muskegon Museum of Art

Two new exhibitions at the Muskegon Museum of Art celebrate art in children’s literature and art by students. Our Voice: Celebrating the Coretta Scott King Book Awards is now on display and runs through May 23, 2021. Expressions Revisited: 39th Annual Muskegon County Student Exhibition opens March 25 and runs through May 9, 2021.

OUR VOICE: Celebrating the Coretta Scott King Book Awards

The Coretta Scott King Award is presented annually by the American Library Association (ALA) to African American authors and illustrators of books for children and teens that contribute to an understanding and appreciation of African American culture and universal human values.

Our Voice, organized by the National Center for Children’s Illustrated Literature and ALA, features original artworks by past award winners Jerry Pinkney, Ashley Bryan, Bryan Collier, Leo and Diane Dillon, Kadir Nelson, and many others. Our Voice celebrates this important award and explores the ways in which artists can educate and elevate, offering new perspectives and opening our eyes to the world and the experiences of our neighbors, inviting greater understanding and unity. The MMA presentation of Our Voice is underwritten by the Folkert Family Foundation. Media support is provided by Blue Lake Public Radio.

John Steptoe (1988 Coretta Scott King Award winner) Wedding festivities, from Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters: An African Tale Watercolor on paper, 1987

EXPRESSIONS REVISITED: 39th Muskegon County Student Exhibition

Expressions, the annual Muskegon County student art exhibition, is an annual collaboration between the Muskegon Area Intermediate School District (MAISD) and the MMA that showcases the artistic talents of Muskegon County K-12 students. This year’s exhibition features student artworks in a variety of media that have been purchased by the MAISD in previous years. The works on display were selected from the MAISD collection by the Muskegon Museum of Art and MAISD staff. Expressions Revisited is underwritten by the MAISD and Comerica Bank.

Additional support is provided by the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs with the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Michigan Humanities Council with the National Endowment for the Humanities.

The museum is open 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays, and closed Mondays. Health and safety measures include limited occupancy in galleries and other public spaces, enhanced cleaning, and mask wearing is required for guests and staff.

Visit www.muskegonartmuseum.org for museum updates, visitor information, and exhibition information.

WKTV will present a new film by award-nominated writers/directors/producers Bayer Mack and Frances Presley Rice that is designed to help gain insight into the significance of Martin Luther King Jr.’s role in the civil rights movement and to develop a better understanding of the movement itself.

“In the Hour of Chaos” will air three times on WKTV Channel 25, noon Wednesday, Nov. 2; 7 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 5; and 11:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 8.

The main characters featured in the documentary “In the Hour of Chaos” are Martin Luther King, Sr (Daddy King), Martin Luther King, Jr., Coretta Scott King, Murray M. Silver and Malcolm X.

The story is presented in six parts and is set against a backdrop of sociopolitical intrigue, as well as racial and labor unrest, stretching from late 19th to early 20th century America,

The first part recounts the intriguing, but contentious relationship between Daddy King and Coretta, the woman his son (Martin, Jr.) chose to be his wife and who influenced his son’s decisions in the fight for black civil rights.

The second part brings to light Daddy King’s formative, impoverished childhood years in the violent backwoods of Georgia, which shaped his world view and forged his internal fortitude that served him well in his decades-long civil rights struggle. It also includes how he went from being a teenage runaway in the sinister rail-yards of Atlanta, as well as his efforts to re-invent himself through faith, education and his courtship and eventual marriage to Alberta Williams.

The third part features Daddy King’s activism in Atlanta and how his work with black church leaders sparked nationalism.

The fourth part details Daddy King’s involvement in national politics and how Communism taints the civil rights movement that’s also altered by the radical idealism of Malcolm X which conflicts with the approach of Daddy King and his protégé, his son Martin, Jr.

The fifth part documents how Daddy King was affected by the deaths of his two sons (Martin Jr. and Alfred) and his wife (Alberta), as well as the unintended consequences those deaths had on race relations in America.

The sixth part focuses on Daddy King’s joining forces with Murray M. Silver and destroying the political career of arch segregationist Lester Maddox, which ushered in a new day in the old South.

The idea for this documentary was conceived by Rice, executive producer of Block Starz Music Television LLC. Block Starz’s CEO Mack, joined Rice and they coordinated in the production of this historic documentary.

Block Starz Music Television LLC is an American independent film and television company based in Sarasota, Florida. The studio is best known for its documentary film “Oscar Micheaux: The Czar of Black Hollywood” that was nominated for a Black Reel Award as the “Outstanding Independent Documentary” by the Foundation for the Advancement of African-Americans in Film (FAAAF).