The Importance of Martin Luther King Jr.
This article (above) is an editorial piece about Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK) who was a political rights activist. He fought for equal rights for African Americans and Caucasians. This article talks about all the hate in the world currently and how we need to fight it with love like Martin Luther King Jr. did.
Depending on the grade level of a student, they might get MLK confused with Malcolm X. Both of these men were political activists in the 1960’s. The main difference between the two activists is that MLK wanted to fight hate with love and Malcolm X had tried that tactic and found it did not work for him. So, Malcolm X fought hate with more hate. We need to make sure that we are teaching love and not hate to our students because once we teach hate, we cannot change it afterwards. Here is a link to an article about that. https://medium.com/@ashonahusbands/rev-dr-martin-luther-king-and-malcolm-x-differences-in-perspective-f2264a7ffb9
Montana Standard for Social Studies: BENCHMARK FOR SOCIAL STUDIES CONTENT STANDARD 2 FOR END OF GRADE 4:
(e) identify and explain the individual’s responsibilities to family, peers, and the community, including the need for civility, respect for diversity, and the rights of others;
I used the standard above because it corresponds well with what Martin Luther King Jr. wanted to do with his peaceful protests and speeches. I want my students to understand the respect and responsibilities they all have in and out of the classroom.
Using the book I Have A Dream, you can teach students about the message of “no hate” that Martin Luther King Jr. wanted to share with everyone. Using this book, I would explain to students why Martin Luther King Jr. Was very important to American history and what we can learn from him. The book is a children’s picture book which can work for most students, though it might be considered “not age appropriate”. This book is a good example of a way to help teach the topic because it makes really good points about why we need to teach the topic.
