Introduction to Martin Luther King Jr

Grade 12 Critical Study unit

How many facts can you find out about Martin Luther King Jr if…

One must be unusual One must be interesting One must be odd One must be humorous One must be heartbreaking

Mindful inquiry

American Civil War

Emancipation Proclamation

" . . . all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free . . . " Abraham Lincoln

(Emancipation Proclamation, 1863)

All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of

the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall

abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal

protection of the laws.

Fourteenth Amendment: civil rights for all

Jim Crow

“It shall be unlawful for a negro and white person to play together or in company with each other in any game of cards or dice, dominoes or checkers.”—Birmingham, Alabama, 1930

“It shall be unlawful for any white prisoner to be handcuffed or otherwise chained or tied to a negro prisoner.”—Arkansas, 1903

“No colored barber shall serve as a barber to white women or girls.”—Atlanta, Georgia, 1926

“Any person...presenting for public acceptance or general information, arguments or suggestions in favor of social equality or of intermarriage between whites and negroes, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and subject to a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars or imprisonment not exceeding six months or both fine and imprisonment in the discretion of the court.”—Mississippi, 1920

“Separate free schools shall be established for the education of children of African descent; and it shall be unlawful for any colored child to attend any white school, or any white child to attend a colored school.”—Missouri, 1929

Violence and lynching

1955 Montgomery, Alabama

Montgomery Bus Boycott

Guiding principles and beliefs

Christianity (family of Baptist ministers)

Pastor Dexter Ave Baptist Church

NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People)

Non-violent protest and resistance (influenced by Ghandi)

Landmark in Civil Rights

1954 Brown versus Board of Education

 racially segregated public schools were declared inherently unequal

 Oliver Brown’s daughter forced to take a bus to an all-black school rather than attend the all-white school blocks from her house.

Reactions

Integration

Integration begins in Little Rock, Arkansas, 1957

Central High school “Little Rock Nine”

supported by NAACP Arkansas National

guard prevented entry

Injunction & police escort

Compass Points

WESTWhat WORRIES

does MLK express about

the issue?

NORTHWhat does MLK know/NEED the

audience to know?

EASTWhat

EXCITEMENT does MLK

express about the issue?

SOUTHWhat STANCE

does take on the issue?