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Many of your students likely know the name Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. But do they know what he stood for, why he took up the cause for civil rights, and what sacrifices he made to try to make our country more inclusive?
Today, we have four Martin Luther King Jr. Day activities you can use to help your students better understand the civil rights movement and Dr. King’s impact on our country. You can use our pre-made activities to check their understanding of the topics. Switch up the questions by adjusting settings like awarding partial credit for specific questions, randomizing the question order, and tagging questions to additional standards.
Plus, Newsela Social Studies subscribers have access to even more great features that make teaching and sharing primary source texts easier than ever. Help students break down these documents at five different reading levels to dig into the content without barriers.
On August 28, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his most famous speech. The “I Have a Dream” speech advocated for Civil rights for Black Americans and called for justice and equality across the country.
Three months before the March on Washington, MLK Jr. was imprisoned in Alabama’s Birmingham Jail for a nonviolent segregation protest. While there, he wrote a letter responding to eight white religious leaders who criticized the protest and King’s fight for civil rights.
On April 4, 1968, Senator Robert Kennedy was campaigning for president in Indianapolis, Indiana, when he learned Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. Speaking to a largely Black audience, he skipped his prepared speech and instead gave remarks about the shocking and tragic news.
Cesar Chavez was a Hispanic Civil Rights and labor leader. He fought for farm workers' rights, especially for child laborers, who often earned less than minimum wage and worked in horrible conditions.
In 1978, Chavez gave a speech in memory of Civil Rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., outlining how his thoughts and goals for Black activists mirrored those of the United Farm Workers union. Both men fought for the rights of their people, with Chavez specifically looking to end exploitation, poverty, and toxic working conditions for migrant workers.
The Formative Library has a variety of free, pre-made activities developed by our curriculum experts and educators like you. You can use these templates as-is or customize them to fit your instructional needs. Use the library’s sort filters to browse content by subject and grade level to find what you want.
Create your own if you don’t see a template that matches your instructional needs! Log into your Formative account and choose how to customize your lesson or assessment. You can create new slides with various multimedia, including audio and video, import content from Google Slides, or upload and enhance a PDF or existing document.
Don’t have a Formative account yet? Sign up for Formative for free today to start creating activities for Martin Luther King Jr. Day and beyond!
Discover how to teach your students about civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. with this collection of content and lessons from Newsela.
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