Martin Luther King Day

Lessons and classroom activities to honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

This lesson focuses on a less well-known part of Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy, but one that is extremely relevant today: the Poor People’s Campaign that Dr. King led over 40 years ago. The lesson links this campaign to current struggles to combat poverty in the US, including efforts by workers at...

Students discuss Dr. King’s views about alliance-building; consider these in light of Obama’s inauguration; learn about the alliance-building work of Ai-jen Poo, founder of Domestic Workers United; and think about things in their own lives that they might want to build alliances to change. 

Students use a remarkable 1957 comic book to learn about the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the real nature of the civil rights movement. 

Students consider nonviolence as a strategy for intentionally building public support in both the Civil Rights Movement (as expressed by Martin Luther King, Jr.) and the Occupy movement.

Through engaging activities, video, and small-group discussion, students consider the Montgomery Bus Boycott and how they might stand up against injustice in their own lives.