In honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. day, we talk Our Friend, Martin, the 1999 animated film that celebrates the life of MLK Jr. This film, oftentimes shown in the classroom, takes viewers on a journey as a pair of best friends goes back in time through the power of magic and introduces them to Reverend King at pivotal moments of his life. It also shows us what happens when the friends try to alter the future.
We discuss the importance of the film to black elementary students, the idolization of historical figures, generational trauma, and much more.
One note: Courtney mentiones that she believes Our Friend, Martin was viewed specifically because her school was majority Black, but we've since learned that it might have been essential viewing in a lot of areas in the South (Black majority school or not).
Check out the trailer here (via Youtube)
Special thank you to Jordan Jackson for his audio wizardry (Instagram), Fifth Music for the intro song (Instagram), and Nancy Oganezov for helping us with marketing.
Other music used on this episode:
DreamHeaven - Sex and Sigarettes
DreamHeaven - Freeze My Soul
(both via Pixabay)
Find Toni Morrison's Recitatif here.
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