Melvin ‘Mel’ Herbert King, Sr. was a community leader, political activist, youth advocate, author, songwriter, and an educator. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts to a Guyanese mother and Barbadian father. Mel lived an extraordinary 94 years to March 28, 2023.
Mr. King is well-known for his role in fighting for affordable housing and services battling against commercial developers and the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) from1968. His elected service in the Massachusetts House of Representatives for a decade boosted his aspiration to be Mayor of Boston. While his campaign for that position, and for Congress, did not bring the desired results, a decisive political strategy was impressive in affecting the political status quo. He established the Rainbow Coalition Party which has now become the Green-Rainbow Party.
A parallel feature of his lifestyle was in formal education. Mr. King was an adjunct professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) – 1971 to 1996 and established the Community Fellows Program in MIT’s Department of Urban Studies and Planning. Upon retirement Mel King founded the South End Technology Center @ Tent City, a joint venture between MIT and the Tent City Corporation, to improve community and youth access to technology.
His passionate and dynamic commitment to community development was demonstrated in multiple initiatives. The partnerships expanded youth education through collaborations with prominent academic institutions. Arts and cultural expression were encouraged by his authorship about the Black experience and personal awareness through written poetry . A combination of these interests had a definitive impact on an innovative urban community program in 2014.
Mr. King’s insightful philanthropy was unmistakable. He was the contributor of upscale computer technology resources well beyond the request from a new youth music education program in Boston. He endorsed the visionary approach of providing rigorous music theory instruction electronically using the steelpan as a standard musical instrument. The distance eLearning teaching method in the student electronic tutoring mode is a fused education training technique that bridged spaces in education and culture. It was a precursor to today’s identical virtual music teaching practice now in use globally.
Another significant contribution was his characteristic personal modus operandi in many aspects of his life. He was aware that one of his PhD mentees was actively designing digital devices. The attention to electronic elements in education appeared similar to those of the steelpan music educator’s eLearning template. Mel King saw a connection in their work, introduced them, and a fostered a relation that developed a unique contemporary teaching device.
It was this general approach of aligning the energies of others to attain goals of common desire that define him as an outstanding cultural enabler.
Reflection on his lifelong accomplishments in various domains confirm a distinctive profile of a successful achiever. Many meaningful undertakings are distinguished for the goals attained from his inspirations and leadership impact.
Mel King will forever be an exemplary living model.
“Remembering Mel”, the funeral obituary, is a source of some information in this tribute by Ronald H. Lammy.
Guyana Folk Festival Awards 2007 E.R. Braithwaite – Receives Exemplary Award
Photo: Gus Corbin
We Salute Outstanding Guyanese
The intrinsic value of a common culture to the well-being of a society is widely accepted. One or more cultural elements can act as the bond that keeps a politically divided country whole. Guyana, although a young country, has the good fortune of cultural depth that manifests itself through, for example, the visual and performing arts, cuisine, and the writings of its poets and authors. Educators, cultural visionaries and enablers support each facet.
In 2007, the year of Guyana’s 41st independence anniversary; the bicentennial of the abolition of the trade in African captives; and the Folk Festival’s theme of Oii – Origins, Identity and Influence, we salute outstanding Guyanese in these fields. They have contributed to the country’s cultural development and we are grateful.
Our honorees cover a broad range of achievement and several decades of accomplishment. A common feature among the group is their individual scope of endeavors. Their cultural impact was not their only field. Our Calypsonian is a businessman. Our anthropologist is a writer and linguist. Our educator/diplomat is a writer whose work was made into a movie and acclaimed globally. Our WW II aviator was a theatre and screen actor in the 1950s and broadcaster. Our former Deputy Premier is a cultural visionary and enabler. Our entrepreneur is a cultural enabler. Our spoken word folklorist was a teacher. Our political lyricist is a poet and singer. Our family group musicians and our herbalist enjoy other diverse careers too. Our writer, literary critic is a television producer and book publisher. And we know that any adult who dedicates her time to molding the positive development of children must be functioning in many capacities. Mothering is a primary one.
We salute them all for their service and making us proud to be Guyanese.
Ronald H. Lammy,
Co-Chair, Awards Committee
August 29, 2007
Short Biography
E.R. Braithwaite is best known for his autobiographical work, To Sir, With Love and the movie of the same name, which tells the story of a black teacher in the East End of London during the 1950s. He has had a successful career as an educator, a diplomat and an author. His numerous writings have primarily dealt with the difficulties of being an educated man, a black social worker, a black teacher, and simply a human being in inhumane circumstances.
Mr. Braithwaite was born in Guyana in 1920. His mother and father both graduated from Oxford University. He attended Queen’s College in Guyana, City College (now City University of New York) in 1940, and Cambridge University in 1949, where he received a Master’s degree in Physics. He has had a long and international career as an educational consultant lecturer for UNESCO, Paris; permanent representative from Guyana to the United Nations; Guyana’s ambassador to Venezuela; and teaching English at New York University.
The intrinsic value of a common culture to the well-being of a society is widely accepted. One or more cultural elements can act as the bond that keeps a politically divided country whole. Guyana, although a young country, has the good fortune of cultural depth that manifests itself through, for example, the visual and performing arts, cuisine, and the writings of its poets and authors. Educators, cultural visionaries and enablers support each facet.
In 2007, the year of Guyana’s 41st independence anniversary; the bicentennial of the abolition of the trade in African captives; and the Folk Festival’s theme of Oii – Origins, Identity and Influence, we salute outstanding Guyanese in these fields. They have contributed to the country’s cultural development and we are grateful.
Our honorees cover a broad range of achievement and several decades of accomplishment. A common feature among the group is their individual scope of endeavors. Their cultural impact was not their only field. Our Calypsonian is a businessman. Our anthropologist is a writer and linguist. Our educator/diplomat is a writer whose work was made into a movie and acclaimed globally. Our WW II aviator was a theatre and screen actor in the 1950s and broadcaster. Our former Deputy Premier is a cultural visionary and enabler. Our entrepreneur is a cultural enabler. Our spoken word folklorist was a teacher. Our political lyricist is a poet and singer. Our family group musicians and our herbalist enjoy other diverse careers too. Our writer, literary critic is a television producer and book publisher. And we know that any adult who dedicates her time to molding the positive development of children must be functioning in many capacities. Mothering is a primary one.
We salute them all for their service and making us proud to be Guyanese.
Ronald H. Lammy,
Co-Chair, Awards Committee
August 29, 2007
Short Biography
E.R. Braithwaite is best known for his autobiographical work, To Sir, With Love and the movie of the same name, which tells the story of a black teacher in the East End of London during the 1950s. He has had a successful career as an educator, a diplomat and an author. His numerous writings have primarily dealt with the difficulties of being an educated man, a black social worker, a black teacher, and simply a human being in inhumane circumstances.
Mr. Braithwaite was born in Guyana in 1920. His mother and father both graduated from Oxford University. He attended Queen’s College in Guyana, City College (now City University of New York) in 1940, and Cambridge University in 1949, where he received a Master’s degree in Physics. He has had a long and international career as an educational consultant lecturer for UNESCO, Paris; permanent representative from Guyana to the United Nations; Guyana’s ambassador to Venezuela; and teaching English at New York University.