The impact of Martin Luther King, Jr. on American society and politics
is immeasurable. His efforts to bring equality to all races living in America
led to lasting change and still hold an important place in all American history
curricula. As we celebrate the legacy of Dr. King on the third Monday of
January every year, it is important to find fresh ways to teach our students
about his life, while still incorporating some of the essential reading,
writing, and thinking skills students need.
Let’s look at
Dr. King’s most memorable speech with a focus on historical thinking skills.
Close Reading:
Close reading asks students to determine a
source’s point of view and purpose. For
example, Dr. King’s famous I Have a Dream speech includes the
sections:
And so even
though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It
is a dream deeply rooted in the American
dream.
I have a dream
that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its
creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created
equal.”
I have a dream
that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the
sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of
brotherhood.
I have a dream
that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of
injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an
oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream
that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not
be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
Students can break down each line to determine the vision
that Dr. King had for his country. They can then summarize the entire section
by analyzing the interpretation for each line.
To help
students see the speech from an ELA perspective, Presentation Magazine offers a
compositional analysis of the speech.
Contextualization:
Contextualizing is the skill that asks
students to look at the facts and events surrounding a particular document that
may have influenced its creator. To fully
understand the context of Dr. King’s message we must look at race relations and
segregation in America in 1963. Teaching Tolerance offers a five lesson
teacher’s guide to their film A Time for Justice: America’s Civil Rights Movement which
chronicles the civil rights movement from the 1954 ruling in Brown vs. the
Board of Education to the 1965 passage of the Voting Rights Act. The guide
includes primary sources, interactive activities, and the background
information that give Dr. King’s words context.
For upper
elementary students, Scholastic provides a brief overview of the same era. It
provides context for Dr. King’s speech, but does not require a lot of class
time to convey much of the same information.
Corroboration:
Corroborating
a source’s content is when students locate other sources that back up or
contradict the source being analyzed. In trying to
corroborate Dr. King’s words, students can be presented with various speeches.
Here are two
examples:
The first is by Alabama governor George Wallace, that says, in part,
The first is by Alabama governor George Wallace, that says, in part,
and I say . . . segregation today . . . segregation tomorrow . . .
segregation forever.
The second example is from President John Kennedy, which says:
This afternoon, following a series of threats and defiant statements,
the presence of Alabama National Guardsmen was required on the University of
Alabama to carry out the final and unequivocal order of the United States
District Court of the Northern District of Alabama. That order called for the
admission of two clearly qualified young Alabama residents who happened to have
been born Negro.
Students should use excerpts of these speeches to
corroborate Dr. King’s characterization of a country that is divided and
unequal. Students can also use these speeches to make a claim about American
society in the 1960s.
Sourcing:
To properly
source a document, students must determine if the who, when, and where of a
document makes it more or less reliable. All three of
our speeches were given in 1963. We know from our contextualizing, that America
was in a state of racial turmoil at the time. In our corroborating, we learn
that the speeches by President Kennedy and Governor Wallace highlight the
issues stated by Dr. King. All sources seem to be a reliable source of history
of the time they were created.
Dr. Martin
Luther King is a monumental figure in American history. His contributions
cannot be overlooked. With some of the sources and activities above, you can
honor his work and memory, while still integrating the skills our students
need. To learn more about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., have students listen to
the Read-Aloud: Martin Luther King, Jr. which
offers a short overview of his life.
Taken from Hep Teaching
