Exhibition on Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr going on at Chennai’s Anna library until Jan 30

CHENNAI: Minister of School Education Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi on Monday inaugurated ‘City of Hope: Gandhi, King, and the 1968 Poor People’s campaign’ at the Anna Centenary Library (ACL) in Chennai, observed as Martin Luther King Junior Day.

The exhibition conducted by the US Consulate General, Chennai, details Gandhi’s influence on civil rights in the US and India’s influence on Martin Luther King Junior’s vision for economic justice and human rights worldwide.

The exhibition will be held till January 30 (except on Republic Day), and is planned to be held in Mumbai, Hyderabad, New Delhi, and Kolkata.

Aaron Bryant, museum curator at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, said, “In 1959, King spent a month travelling India. When he first arrived, he had commented: “For a long while, I’ve looked forward to visiting your great country. To other countries I may go as a tourist, but to India I come as a pilgrim”.”

The exhibition also celebrates artists and recognises that art and artists have been central to driving conversations on social progress, justice, and change, read a press note.