PEORIA, Ill. – Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. hopes to reinstill a love of learning in African-American schoolchildren, by also helping them find their roots.
Gates spoke Monday at this year’s Martin Luther King, Jr. luncheon in Peoria about a curriculum he’s created based on the “Finding Your Roots” program he hosts, that he hopes local school districts will use, and that he hopes will break a stigma.
“When I was growing up, the blackest thing you could be was an educated man or an educated woman,” said Gates. “Somehow, a large percentage of our own people have forgotten that.”
“Finding Your Roots” – borne out of an initial two-part series tracing the genealogy of several African-American celebrities – is now in its tenth year.
Gates wants to see the curriculum — called the “Martin Luther King, Jr. Genealogical Curriculum” — that’s been developed used in inner-city schools.
“I believe that if we get them to trace their own family trees, we can take our own young people…not back to the future, but black to the future,” said Gates.
Also at Monday’s luncheon, a portrait of one of Peoria’s favorite sons was unveiled for the first time.
A portrait of late comedian Richard Pryor, a Peoria native, was unveiled Monday at the annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Day luncheon at the Peoria Civic Center. It was commissioned by the Peoria Riverfront Museum. (Will Stevenson/1470 & 100.3 WMBD)
It’s a portrait commissioned by the Peoria Riverfront Museum of late actor/comedian Richard Pryor.
“Arguably long overdue, Peoria has started to recognize and honor his achievements here in his hometown,” said Everly Davis, assistant curator, “beginning with a street naming by the City Council in 2001, a bronze statue by legendary artist Preston Jackson in 2015, recognition by the Carver Center, where he got his start under the nurturing stewardship of the legendary Juliette Whittaker.”
Davis says that only scratches the surface of what has become a number of tributes to Pryor over the years in Peoria.
The portrait will be dedicated Tuesday morning at the museum, and Pryor’s son, Richard Pryor, Jr., will attend.
Following Monday’s luncheon, an annual “freedom parade” was held through parts of Peoria, starting at Bradley University and ending at Bethel United Methodist Church on N. Richard Pryor Place.
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