Students from Tindley Preparatory Academy held homage to black artists at Tube Factory on January 16, 2017 in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Teacher Tasha Jones brought a group of 40 8th graders from the all-boys middle school to the artspace for a poetry reading and celebration of culture.

Before the event, each Tindley student was assigned to write about their personal experiences in the form of an “I am” poem, which they shared in front of family and Tindley faculty members at Tube. The poems explored topics like identity, inner peace, and discovering self-worth. The poems varied in tone and structure but showed strong sense of pride – the boys were confident in what they wrote and were happy to share their poetry with the audience.

After the reading, students and community members learned more about the Civil Rights Movement through sharing other poetry and open discussion. Much of the day centered around  writer Mari Evans – one of the founders of the Black Arts Movement, longtime Indianapolis resident, and subject of Carl Pope’s exhibit in the Tube gallery.

To remember the field trip, the students’ poems from the day were later hung up in their classroom surrounding a picture of Mari, seen below. See more pictures from this event here.