Teaching the Movement’s Most Iconic Figure – w/ Charles McKinney

Teaching Hard History

You cannot teach the civil rights movement without talking about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. But it’s critical that students deconstruct the mythology surrounding the movement’s most iconic figure to learn about the man, not just the hero. The real Dr. King held beliefs that evolved over time. A complex man, he was part of a much larger movement—one that shaped him as much as he shaped it.

Our new Spotify playlist has even more movement music inspired by this episode.

Educators! Get a professional development certificate for listening to this episode—issued by Learning for Justice. Listen for the special code word, then visit learningforjustice.org/podcastpd.

And for even more resources, check out the enhanced full transcript of this episode. For example...

These Birmingham News file photos from the 40s, 50s and 60s, recollect the explosive death and destruction at the hands of racists in ‘Bombingham.’

And the lesson “Birmingham 1963: Primary Documents” asks your students to interrogate historical documents with differing opinions about this conflict.(Grades 6-8, 9-12)

New from Teaching Tolerance: Introduce your students to the history of Indigenous enslavement on land that is currently the United States with The Forgotten Slavery of our Ancestors (12 min)—along with Discussion Guide.