January 12, 2025 |
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Learn about the Legacy of Dr. King
Are you looking to bring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s powerful legacy into your classroom? Explore this collection of thoughtful, grade-appropriate resources that will help students understand Dr. King's vision of equality, justice, and nonviolent advocacy for change. These materials, from primary source documents and engaging lesson plans to interactive activities and discussion guides, will help your students connect with one of America's most influential civil rights leaders.
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Share your thoughts with our communityWeekly PollThis week, our poll asks, "Is your school closed to honor Dr. King on Martin Luther King Jr. Day?" Once you click submit, you can share your reply and view the responses of other educators. |
Grades K-12
The King Center
Click on King Holiday to learn more about the importance of MLK Day. Click through the site to read about Martin Luther King Jr.’s life, legacy, family, and more. Go to What We Do to find classroom resources for all grades.
Grades K-6
Martin Luther King Jr. Primary Source Resource
This set of downloadable teaching resources features a comic that introduces students to Martin Luther King Jr. and his role as a civil rights leader and a Microsoft Word document that includes a supporting classroom activity.
Grades 6-12
Black American History - Crash Course
The episodes in this video collection take an in-depth look at the key events, figures, and movements that shaped Black history in America from slavery and the Civil Rights Movement to modern struggles for equality. Episodes 32–37 relate to MLK Jr.
Grades 8-12
The Plainest Demands of Justice: Documents for Dialogue on the African American Experience
This seven-lesson curriculum uses primary source documents to teach students about group and individual efforts to protect civil rights. The lesson “Continuing the Heroic Struggle for Equality – The Civil Rights Movement” features activities.
Grades K-12
Teaching a More Complete Picture of MLK
Three educators share their suggestions for using primary sources to expand students' understanding of Martin Luther King Jr.’s significant impact on civil rights. Don’t miss the primary source collection that features art, posters, and interviews.
Grades 5-12
Freedom's Ring
Freedom's Ring is an interactive website that offers an immersive multimedia experience. Students can take an in-depth look into the Civil Rights period of American History by listening to or reading the famous “I Have a Dream” speech.
Grades K-12
March on Washington: PBS Newshour Classroom
Explore this curated collection of resources related to the March on Washington. Most activities are for the secondary level, with a few gems for elementary. Find lesson plans, videos, and additional collections related specifically to MLK Day.
Grades 5-12
Virtual Learning Journey: Civil Rights Movement
Transport learners back to the time of the Civil Rights Movement through a virtual learning experience that covers seven themes. Listen to firsthand accounts, watch 14 videos, and explore many primary source documents found along the learning path.
Grades 8-12
“The Press and the Civil Rights Movement” Video Lesson
This lesson uses original clips from different television news shows, newspapers, and photographs (all primary sources) of the 1950s and 1960s to explore the idea that the Civil Rights Movement may not have gotten very far without a free press.
Grades 3-12
Martin Luther King Jr. Resources Overview
Check out this one-stop shop for information on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement. Resources include encyclopedias, primary documents, transcribed documents, book suggestions, quotes, and audio files of King's speeches.
Grades 4-10
Martin Luther King Jr. Day
Make connections between history, vocabulary, and human rights. Find interactive vocabulary activities using words related to Martin Luther King Jr. The site also offers printable crosswords, fill in the blanks, and more, all using the same theme words.
Grades 9-12
Martin Luther King, Jr. - Nobel Acceptance Speech
Find everything you need to know about Martin Luther King Jr. and his 1964 Nobel Peace Prize win from this page on the Nobel Peace Prize site. It includes a video of Dr. King's acceptance speech.
This Week at TeachersFirst
We’re excited to invite you to attend our winter OK2Ask virtual workshops! Read the details below. We’re also sharing a related blog post, a special collection of additional resources related to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and a related Reading Trek.
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Join us on Tuesdays at 7 PM ETOK2Ask Winter 2025Registration is open for our winter 2025 OK2Ask virtual workshops! Register for “AI for Creating Learning Objects,” “Engage & Inspire with Google Vids,” “Tech Tools Smackdown: Critical Thinking Games in the Classroom,” and several other sessions. |
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Infusing Technology BlogHonoring Dr. King’s Legacy Year-Round: Bringing His Message of Peace and Justice Into the ClassroomDr. King was a family man, an organizer, an orator, and a hero to many. He won a Nobel Peace Prize and sparked a nonviolent movement that continues today. This blog post shares ideas for encouraging his values in your lessons throughout the year. |
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Special Topics CollectionDr. Martin Luther King Jr.Explore these teacher-reviewed resources, which include lesson ideas, activities, research materials, and interactive sites for studying Martin Luther King Jr. Use this collection as you prepare to celebrate MLK Day or anytime throughout the year. |
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Reading TrekTurning 15 on the Road to FreedomIn this memoir ideal for grades 5–9, author Lynda Blackmon Lowery shares her experience hearing Dr. King speak as a child, her arrests and injuries on Bloody Sunday, and how the march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama sparked change across America. |
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TeachersFirst is a collection of curated, classroom-ready content and ideas — including teacher-authored reviews of thousands of web resources. Built-in guidance from seasoned professionals makes effective classroom technology use trouble-free. TeachersFirst is made available free to K12 teachers by The Source for Learning, Inc., a nonprofit that has been providing educational resources for more than 40 years.