African drummer Leonard Epps brought the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. to life in visits to the Pre, Lower, Middle, and Upper Schools –– inviting Bruins of all ages to the stage for drum circles to feel the rhythm together. 

Joshua Greene ’27 opened the Upper School assembly, which featured Epps, other musical guests, and student commentary.

“As we continue to reflect on this year’s theme of unity, we draw inspiration from Dr. King’s words: We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools,” Greene told his classmates. 

“In today’s assembly, we will weave together the themes of unity and storytelling –– tools that Dr. King used masterfully throughout the Civil Rights Movement and in speeches that helped bring people together around a shared purpose.” 

Epps is a former teacher at Weaver High School in Hartford who now serves as the president of the Brother Carl Hardrick Institute for Violence Prevention and Community Engagement. An accomplished African drummer and cultural educator, Epps asked boys to consider King’s strategy of nonviolence.

“A lot of people think being nonviolent was weak –– that it was soft,” Epps said. “But in reality, it took a lot more courage to maintain that control than it does to ‘jump’ and forget everything you’ve got going.”

He said Dr. King’s strategy was, in part, to “not react.” 

“So for me, Dr. King represented discipline,” Epps explained. “He represented respect, respecting himself, respecting others. He also represented unity. And he also represented maturity, which is the idea of growth, that you don’t have to keep thinking the way that you thought in the beginning, that there is an opportunity to change and grow as you move forward.”

Taken together, the words Discipline, Respect, Unity, and Maturity create an acronym for the word DRUM, Epps said.

“I think that is important for us today,” he explained. “That’s why we have the drums –– because they represent those values.” 

Theo Simon ’28 closed the assembly with a hope for the future.

“As we conclude today’s assembly, let us remember that Dr. King’s dream is not just history –– it is alive around us,” Simon said. “The ’Wick community stands as an example of diverse voices united in shared purpose, grounded in our school values of Courage, Honor, and Truth.”