14 January 2013 -- Today the United States celebrates the anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birth (born on 15 January 1929). Dr. King was an African American clergyman, activist and prominent leader in the civil rights movement. Two generations ago, Dr. King challenged segregation and racial discrimination by leading marches and boycotts in the southern United States as a leader of the civil rights movement.
Dr. King was profoundly affected by his 1959 visit to India. He said, "Since being in India, I am more convinced than ever before that the method of nonviolent resistance is the most potent weapon available to oppressed people in their struggle for justice and human dignity. In a real sense, Mahatma Gandhi embodied in his life certain universal principles that are inherent in the moral structure of the universe, and these principles are as inescapable as the law of gravitation."
In 1964 Dr. King became the youngest person to receive a Nobel Peace Prize for his work to end racial segregation and racial discrimination through civil disobedience and nonviolence. Since his assassination in 1968, his legacy has inspired public service initiatives throughout the United States.
Though usually associated with the civil rights movement, Martin Luther King, Jr. has become a human rights icon as well. He wrote that "injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere", recognising the universality of human rights. Moreover, Dr. King was not only interested in civil and political rights; in 1968 he organised a campaign to address issues of economic justice like fair wages. In his last years he advocated against poverty and expressed opposition to the Vietnam War.
Source: Wikipedia
Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I have a dream" speech
The speech was given during a march on Washington D.C. on 28 August 1963 to protest racial discrimination.
Selected learning materials
Choosing to Participate
This teachers' guide focuses on the civic choices—both large and small—people make about themselves and others in their community, nation, and world. It seeks to provoke conversations among students about the meaning and responsibilities of living in a democracy and to help young people develop as thoughtful, caring, compassionate, and responsible citizens who will work to preserve democratic values and human rights.
Human Rights and Service-Learning: Lesson Plans and Projects
Service learning is a method whereby learners learn and develop through active participation in a service that is conducted in their communities. The manual contains lessons and service-learning projects.
Learning Activities for Use With Young People to Explore the Issue of Discrimination
These five lesson activities, developed by Amnesty International, explore the issue of discrimination using discussion, group exercise, project work and a copy of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Political Rights in a Democracy
Through problems and role play activities, this sample lesson can be used to stimulate thinking about how government affects people's lives, the various forms of participation in a democracy, and political participation as linked to human rights and the Universal Declaration.
Social Protests
This lesson is part of the 72-page supplementary text "The Challenge of Diversity", which provides an in-depth look at issues of racial and ethnic diversity in the United States. It is intended for grades 9-12 and is linked to civics and U.S. history standards. In this lesson, students examine the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s.
International treaties guaranteeing civil and political rights and preventing discrimination and racism:
- United Nations Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (1963)
- International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (1965)
- International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966)
- International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid (1973)
- Declaration on Race and Racial Prejudice (1978)
Useful links
Address to 1st Montgomery Improvement Association Mass Meeting (1955)
Letter from Birmingham Jail (1963)
Nobel Prize acceptance speech (1964)
"Beyond Vietnam" (1967)
"I've Been to the Mountaintop" (April 3, 1968)
Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service
The Martin Luther King Papers Project at Stanford University
MLK Memorial
Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site
Martin Luther King Center
National Civil Rights Museum
| 
