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Lesson Plans, Activity Ideas & Other Resources for Teaching MLK Day

By Phil Nast, retired middle school teacher and freelance writer

Lesson Plans

Lesson Plan: The Children's Crusade & the Role of Youth in the African American Freedom Struggle
Students in grades 9-12 learn about the role of youth in the Children’s Crusade in Birmingham, Alabama and Civil Rights Movement.

I Have a Dream: Exploring Nonviolence in Young Adult Texts
Students in grades 9-12 compare Martin Luther King’s dream of nonviolence, rapper Common’s “A Dream,” and Walter Dean Myers’ “Monkeyman.”

Background Resources

I Have a Dream: Celebrating the Vision of Martin Luther King, Jr.
A source of activities, lessons, and websites.

Martin Luther King Jr.
NY Times archive of articles on MLK.

The History of Jim Crow
This website describes the African-American experience during the years of segregation 1870 through the 1950s. This comprehensive website was originally created in support of the PBS series The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow and features lesson plans for middle school and high school, first person narratives, images, links to other related websites, an interactive encyclopedia, and more.

MLK Websites

• The King Center
• King Institute
• MLK Online

Videos

• Martin Luther King, Jr. "I Have a Dream"
• Martin Luther King Jr.
  The History Channel provides a collection of 49 short videos on MLK and his career.
• Roads to Memphis: The 1968 Hunt for Martin Luther King's Killer (1:21)
  This video and transcript describes the hunt for James Earl Ray, a documentary that aired originally on PBS as part the American Experience series.
• American Experience: Eyes on the Prize: The Story of the Movement
  This part of the 14 hour series covers 25 major events, from Emmett Till's murder in 1955 to the election of Harold Washington as Chicago's first black mayor in 1983.