what to teach students on martin luther king
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Teaching and Learning About Martin Luther Male monarch Jr. With The New York Times
How do you celebrate and teach the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr., both on the holiday that celebrates his birth, and all twelvemonth long?
Updated: Jan., 2022 , with articles and multimedia linking Dr. King's work to the recent Black Lives Matter protests that many believe may be the largest motion in United States history.
Please note: In honour of Martin Luther King Day, The Learning Network volition non be publishing on Jan. 17, 2022.
Martin Luther Rex Jr. Day, an annual federal holiday since 1986, celebrates the national civil rights leader who was instrumental in challenging the racial caste organization that delineated how millions of Americans lived their lives.
All l states gloat the public holiday on the third Monday in Jan, but not all states, cities and towns dedicate it solely to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Some package information technology every bit a broader celebration of both Dr. King and Amalgamated leaders, according to this 2017 piece, "Celebration of Martin Luther Rex Jr. Still Faces Pushback."
Instruction Tolerance's "Dos and Don'ts of Celebrating MLK Day" (and "Going the Extra Mile for MLK Twenty-four hour period") remind us that although the vacation is just i mean solar day — and Black History Month is only ane month — Dr. Male monarch's message of equality and justice for all are best embedded in the curriculum all year round.
The New York Times reported on Dr. King's campaign and on the ceremonious rights move in general, and continues to written report on related issues of segregation and inequality today. And on April 4, 2018, the 50th anniversary of Dr. King's assassination, The Times published a rich drove, from manufactures and Op-Eds to photos and video, to celebrate his life and legacy.
Below, nosotros've chosen both recent pieces as well equally pieces from the Times archives published during Dr. Rex'due south lifetime. Nosotros also propose several teaching ideas for connecting his message with our earth today.
How practice you teach virtually Dr. King? Permit us know in the comments.
Six Ideas for Teaching Near the Life and Legacy of Dr. King
1. How Do His Words Resonate Today?
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What would Dr. King make of America today?
In a 2021 piece, "The Words of Martin Luther Male monarch Jr. Reverberate in a Tumultuous Fourth dimension," Audra D. South. Burch, John Eligon and Michael Wines write:
He lived and died in a fourth dimension of tumult and a racial awakening, and then maybe information technology is no surprise that the 35th national celebration of the life and legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on Monday has particular resonance amidst 1 of the most traumatic seasons in memory: A raging pandemic. Protestation and civil unrest later the killing of Blackness people by the police. A momentous ballot. And an insurrection.
Even the title of his final book — "Where Do Nosotros Become From Here: Chaos or Community?" — seems ripped from today's headline.
"I recollect it'southward notwithstanding an unanswered question," said Clayborne Carson, a history professor at Stanford Academy, referring to the championship of Dr. King'due south book.
These reporters asked Dr. Carson and others from beyond the country to choose words from Dr. King and reflect on how they resonate today. Invite your students to read what they had to say, then, perhaps, reply the question, "Where exercise we go from here?" themselves.
For deeper investigation, they might accept a await at the special April iv, 2018 Times interactive headlined "Martin Luther King Jr.: 50 Years After, His Battles Live On." Here is how the piece begins:
Martin Luther King Jr. remains frozen in time for many Americans. Seared into our consciousness is the man who battled Southern segregation.
We see him standing before hundreds of thousands of followers in the nation's capital in 1963, proclaiming his dream for racial harmony. We run across him marching, arms locked with beau protesters, through the battleground of Alabama in 1965.
But on the 50th anniversary of his death, information technology is worth noting how his message and his priorities had evolved by the fourth dimension he was shot on that balcony at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis in 1968. Dr. Male monarch was confronting many challenges that remain with united states of america today.
He was battling racism in the North then, not just in the Due south. He was pushing the government to address poverty, income inequality, structural racism and segregation in cities similar Boston and Chicago. He was also calling for an cease to a war that was draining the national treasury of funds needed to finance a progressive domestic agenda.
This may not be the Dr. Rex that many remember. Yet, his words resonate powerfully — and, perhaps, uncomfortably — today in a state that remains deeply divided on problems of race and grade.
They might also watch this Stance video, in which Dr. Male monarch's son, Martin Luther King Three, explores his male parent'southward messages virtually poverty and workers' rights, which he says are more relevant at present than ever:
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My Father, Martin Luther King Jr., Had Another Dream
If he saw the issues of poverty and income inequality that exist today, he would be greatly disappointed.
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"I accept a dream." "Martin Luther Rex Jr. is celebrated as a champion for ceremonious rights. But today, I desire y'all to think near a different part of my dad'south legacy. Something that you may not know, just it's more relevant today than ever — his fight against poverty and income inequality." "Only if a man doesn't have a job or an income, he has neither life nor liberty, and the possibility for the pursuit of happiness." "When my male parent was shot in 1968 in Memphis, he was crusading for higher wages for black sanitation workers. Their work conditions were bottomless — low pay, no ill leave, and many were on welfare. In a speech communication to the workers, Dad said the issue is injustice. The effect is the — " "Refusal of Memphis to exist off-white and honest in its dealings with its public servants." "Today my dad is revered. Merely in 1968, he was deeply unpopular. Two-thirds of Americans disapproved of him." "Oh, I've been hitting so many times I'm immune to it." "The F.B.I. said he was a Communist. But he kept protesting anyway. I traveled with him every bit a child throughout Georgia in preparation for the Poor People's Entrada. The idea was to rally people to Washington to press the federal authorities to provide jobs and income for the poor. This was his other dream simply he did non live to see it come to fruition. I think if my father saw the issues of poverty and income inequality that exist today, he would be greatly disappointed. Dorsum then, 25 1000000 people were living in poverty. Only today, it'due south shut to xl million, and some say information technology'due south much higher, while billionaires pay a lower tax charge per unit than the working course. Americans who teach our kids, deliver our nutrient, drive our buses are struggling." "It is a offense for people to alive in this rich nation and receive starvation wages." "If we really want to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Mean solar day and the principles that my father stood for, our whole regime needs to stride up, from creating a cabinet position focused on fighting poverty to passing a universal basic income." "There's nix new about poverty. What is new is that we at present take the techniques and the resources to become rid of poverty. And the existent question is whether we have the will."
How do your students come across Dr. King's words resonating in their own lives and communities — and in our nation and effectually the world? Invite them to click through this rich collection, which links to both new and archival pieces, every bit they address the question, What would Dr. King brand of America today?
Every bit they work, students might highlight quotes and ideas that pair especially well with other things they are reading, learning nearly, listening to or viewing. For case, how practice they speak to more contemporary works, from visual fine art on city streets and in galleries, to music like Beyoncé's "Germination" and Childish Gambino'southward "This Is America," or to novels similar "Beloved Martin" by Nic Stone or Angie Thomas's "The Hate U Requite"? Why?
As a culminating activity, a class might create a gallery of images and quotes that bridge Dr. King's battles with those we are fighting today.
two. Blackness Lives Affair: A 'Battle for the Soul of America'
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'There's a Knee joint Upon the Neck of Republic': Protesters Rally in D.C.
Thousands gathered in Washington at the Lincoln Memorial on the 57th anniversary of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther Male monarch's "I Accept a Dream" spoken language to call for racial justice and encourage voting and census participation.
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"George Floyd. George Floyd. George Floyd. George Floyd. "Over the weeks ahead culminating on Election Day, we need to vote equally if our lives and our livelihoods, our liberties depend on it because they do. There is a genu upon the neck of commonwealth, and our nation can only live and so long without the oxygen of freedom." "Sit-in without legislation will not lead to change. Nosotros didn't come out and stand in this heat because we didn't accept naught to do. We come to let yous know if we volition come out by these numbers in the heat and stand up in the heat, that we will stand in the polls all day long." "What we need is modify. And we're at a bespeak where we tin get that change. Simply we have to stand up together. We have to vote." Crowd: "Breonna Taylor. Say her name: Breonna Taylor. Say her name: Breonna Taylor." "I wish George were here to encounter this right now. Everybody out here right now, our leaders, they need to follow the states while nosotros are marching to enact laws to protect us." "Jacob Blake!" Crowd: "Jacob Blake!" "Jacob Blake!" Crowd: "Jacob Blake!" "There are ii systems of justice in the Usa. There'southward a white system. And there's a Black system. The Black system ain't doing so well. Merely we're going to stand up. I ask everyone to stand up up. No justice!" Crowd: "No peace!"
The protests that broke out in the summer of 2020 in response to the decease of George Floyd and many others became what scholars believe may be the largest move in Usa history. In June, Joe Biden, so on the campaign trail, noted, "Even Dr. King's assassination did non have the worldwide impact that George Floyd's death did … People are really realizing this is a battle for the soul of America."
Practise your students agree? Did any of them attend any of the marches that reached every corner of America, and many places around the world? Do they know whatever of the thousands of Americans who streamed to the Lincoln Memorial in September, 2020 to rekindle the spirit of the 1963 March on Washington?
You might ask them: What wisdom can Dr. King and the civil rights motion of the 1960s offer the activists of the Black Lives Matter movement? Why? In this article, those who fought with Dr. King offer seven lessons and warnings virtually both how to march and how to build a motility. Which do you recollect are most useful for Blackness Lives Matter activists today? If you take studied the work of Dr. King, are there any you would add to the list? Why?
three. Protests Yesterday and Today
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Do you lot take to be disobedient if you want justice? How would your students answer?
How much do your students know about the ceremonious rights movement? Examination their knowledge with this thirteen-question quiz The Times published in 2019 in award of Dr. King's 90th birthday. So consider: What did working to advance racial and social justice expect like in the 1950s and 60s? What does it look like now?
In a 2015 Magazine commodity, "Teaching Martin Luther Rex Jr. in the Age of Freddie Grayness," Syreeta McFadden writes most discussing "Alphabetic character From Birmingham Jail" with her students at a community college in Manhattan:
… Nosotros returned to King'southward letter, in which he draws a stardom betwixt but and unjust laws. They didn't know virtually this King, I found, the one who fought the law. In their view, the civil rights movement was embodied in Male monarch the Christlike leader, who stands for peace, love and brotherhood.
I told the students that Male monarch went to jail a lot for peace, love and brotherhood.
Nosotros talked about Baltimore, where the constabulary had only killed Freddie Gray and street protests were swelling to an uprising. My students were skeptical of headlines and commentary that called for irenic protest. One of the students noted that the police were fierce, too, and they were placing people in mortal danger just to protect some buildings from being damaged.
"A building is not more valuable than a person," she said. About of the others nodded in understanding. More began to speak. The rote discussion was condign impassioned, cacophonous:
"But in that location's a difference between rioting and peaceful protestation. …"
"Are we proverb property is more valuable than a human being?"
"That'southward like saying to protestation is unlawful. …"
"What does 'peaceful' even mean?"
Read about the residual of the word that 24-hour interval, and remember almost the implications for your own classroom. How does education about Dr. King and the civil rights movement look different today, after movements like #takeaknee and #MeToo, and protests from the Women'south March to the events in Charlottesville, Va., in August, 2017 and the Blackness Lives Matter motion?
What about after the pro-Trump riot at the U.S. Capitol on January. 6, 2021? On The Learning Network, we asked students what they thought about that anarchism, and many of them spoke passionately on what they saw equally a double standard in how the law treated these insurgents and the way they take treated Blackness Lives Thing protesters. Do your students agree?
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To recollect more about Dr. King and the history of protest, students might read one or both of the following.
In a 2017 Op-Ed, "Which Martin Luther King Are Nosotros Celebrating Today?," Jason Sokol writes:
In this season of political polarization, it is tempting to promise that we tin unite in celebration of Dr. Male monarch. Just celebrators ought to know whom they are honoring. Dr. King died for striking garbage workers and beseeched his regime to protect the vulnerable. He had a message for those who would target immigrants or wall off America from the globe. In a 1967 speech, he declared: "Our loyalties must get ecumenical rather than national." Instead of policing their borders, nations should "develop an overriding loyalty to mankind as a whole."
The alternative was unacceptable. "History is cluttered with the wreckage of nations and individuals that pursued this cocky-defeating path of hate." To honor Dr. King is to follow a different path.
And in a 2020 Op-Ed, "Without the Right to Protest, America Is Doomed to Fail," the activist Patrisse Cullors looks at the Black Lives Matter move every bit part of a long history:
Protest is the foundational variable of the American experiment. Every pin indicate in the history of our country is rooted in information technology. From the Boston Tea Party of 1773 to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther Rex Jr.'s immortal "I Take a Dream" voice communication at the Lincoln Memorial in 1963, a nation "of the people, by the people" is only as robust and defensible as its protections of the correct to protestation.
Protests led by Blackness Americans, though often unrecognized, have been peculiarly crucial to every cracking political movement in this country. From Crispus Attucks (the first martyr of the Revolutionary State of war) to Ida B. Wells and the Blackness suffragists fighting for women's right to vote, Blackness and brown people accept always protested for comprehensive systemic change and liberty for all Americans, even when they've been denied freedom themselves.
She too asks:
Every bit the Black Lives Matter motion continues to abound, I enquire that anyone proud to be part of (or hoping to bring together) our e'er-evolving land continue to brainwash themselves on both the roots of and the reasoning backside calls for "nonviolence." Are such calls seeking solutions, or are they demanding silence from protesters?
Have your students read these pieces in preparation for a discussion on the role of protestation in America in the by and today. What lines resonate? Where practise they stand on questions about "disobedience" and violence as protest? What questions practise these pieces raise virtually activism in 2021? What advice or help do they offer?
4. A Day of Service
The Martin Luther Male monarch Jr. Day of Service, signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 1994, challenges Americans to make the holiday into a day of active volunteer service to laurels Dr. King.
Have students inquiry ideas in the spirit of service here, and so blueprint a day of service for themselves and their classmates, or for their family members, and present these ideas to their class. They can also notice resources in our lesson plan Making a Difference: Ideas for Giving, Service Learning and Social Action.
5. 'I Have a Dream'
Invite your students to watch Dr. King'south "I Accept a Dream" spoken communication. Why is it still so powerful over fifty years later?
That's the question we inquire in our Text to Text lesson program that pairs Dr. Male monarch's words with an article by the Times volume critic Michiko Kakutani, "The Lasting Power of Dr. King'due south Dream Speech." In information technology, we pose questions virtually the figurative language and other poetic and oratorical devices, such every bit repetition and theme, he uses, as well as questions virtually what it all the same has to say to us today. There are also several ideas for assessing how much progress on Dr. Male monarch's dream our nation has made since he spoke.
Consider, for example, Adeel Hassan'southward 2019 interview with Dr. King's son about how far, or close, we are to achieving his male parent'south dream. Martin Luther King III said:
This vision that he engaged in and talked about, elements of it have get true. But the promise is that nosotros'd exist much further every bit a nation. I call up nosotros're going through a metamorphosis. And what I mean past that is all of the sick, or all of the negative, has to come up out for the positive to emerge because there's no manner that we can go back to the past.
Students can be invited to read the rest of the piece then post answers to our Student Opinion question, What Does Dr. Male monarch's Legacy Mean to You?
six. Songs in Celebration
Take students listen to some of the songs written in honor of Dr. King, and then write their own song. For example, meet Stevie Wonder's "Happy Birthday Vocal," originally written for Dr. Rex later on at that place was opposition to creating the federal vacation, above.
Students might likewise listen to this one by James Taylor, which is not function of the Billboard list, to a higher place. Hither is the first stanza:
Let u.s.a. turn our thoughts today to Martin Luther King
and recognize that there are ties between usa, all men and women living on the Earth.
Ties of hope and beloved, sister and brotherhood, that nosotros are bound together
in our desire to see the earth become a identify in which our children tin grow gratis and strong.
We are leap together past the chore that stands earlier us and the route that lies ahead.
We are jump and we are jump.
For additional ideas for instruction history and social studies with music see our lesson plans Teaching With Protest Music and The Ten-Dollar Founding Father Without a Begetter: Teaching and Learning With 'Hamilton.'
Lesson Plans and More From The Learning Network
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How Dr. King Inverse a Sanitation Worker's Life
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. came to Memphis in 1968 to march with sanitation workers who were protesting depression wages and poor working weather. Cleophus Smith marched with him. He's even so on the job.
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If Dr. Male monarch came dorsum and seen the way things are, he wouldn't be pleased with it. No, he wouldn't be pleased at all. All right. I call u.s.a. sanitation engineers because we're supposed to run the job, not allow the job run us. I was 24 years old when I started. Merely back and so, information technology was a different ball game. Back and then, the working condition, it was unbearable. After three weeks, when I got my first check, I bankrupt down and cried. We were working total time. And at the same time, the wages were and so low, we was qualified to go food stamps. Nosotros were determined that we was going to get a union organized, that nosotros would see justice. We were hit virtually the wages, fair treatment and dignity. When we heard that Dr. King was coming to Memphis to help usa in that sanitation strike, nosotros were very surprised. We knew and so that at that place was somebody that cared about our struggle. We was at Mason Temple this detail night. Dr. King said, the Lord allowed me to go to the mountaintop and to look over into the promised land. And he said, I might not get there with you, but we volition brand it to the promised country. Everybody was only jubilated, just excited, non knowing the next twenty-four hour period would be a day of silence. Considering of Dr. King'due south decease, that was one of the reasons that Mayor Loeb went on and signed that wedlock into a prescript. We got what we wanted, but at the same fourth dimension, we lost the great leader. "He never thought in terms of his personal welfare, but ever in terms of the cause which he dedicated his life to." I really had a lot of animosity. I came from the streets. I was a street thug. And Dr. King was the ane that taught me, through his humility and his leadership. I said, that's the way I'd similar to be. "— united will never be defeated. The workers united will never be defeated. The workers united will never be defeated. The workers united will never be defeated." There are all the same some unsolved problems demand to be solved. "What do we want?" "15." "When exercise nosotros want it?" "Now!" "What do we want?" "15." "When exercise want it?" "Now!" It is what it is until somebody can roll his sleeves up and become out there and fight.
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Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/15/learning/lesson-plans/teaching-martin-luther-king-jr.html
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