Freedom’s Ring: King’s “I Have a Dream” Speech Animated and Interactive Site
This is a multimodal way to experience King’s culminating address of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. While listening to the speech, you can experience the sights and sounds of the day and learn what aspects of the speech were improvised (including “I have a dream”). You can also use the “Index” button to learn about Economic Justice, Historical Threads, Tactics of the Movement, and more. Check it out!
All Dickinsonians are encouraged to explore the the collection of resources here. Faculty, you may find particular interest in that which you’d like to present to your students on your first day of class (MLK Day), during Social Justice week, or at any time in the future.
Educational Videos
Dialogues Across Differences Class Students’ Videos about MLK
Students in Noreen Lape’s “DXD” class made the following videos comprised of quotes and footage of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., as well as interviews of Dickinson faculty. Their objective was to create videos for faculty to play on the first day of classes, demonstrating King’s advocacy for dialogue and the relevance of his work to each of the following 4 disciplines:
- MLK, Dialogue, & the Arts
- MLK, Dialogue, & the Humanities
- MLK, Dialogue, & the Social Sciences
- MLK, Dialogue, & STEM
Speeches, Interviews, Footage, & Audio
- Database of ALL of MLK’s Texts
- Recordings of All of MLK’s Speeches and Sermons
- A Time to Act: Parts 1 & 2 (58 min.) and Parts 3 & 4 (56 min.) Produced in 1968 by WITF and aired in 2020, this collection of interviews and footage from Harrisburg highlighted the systemic racism in our region and beyond. Of note, the man speaking from minutes 25:15 – 27:37 was Richard James, then head of Community Action and the father of Maria Thiaw, Assistant Director of the Popel Shaw Center for Race & Ethnicity.
- Go to the WDCV & Audio / Video Collection page to find dozens of videos featuring note-worthy speeches, interviews, historical footage, poetry, songs, and more.
Lesson Plans
Dialogues Across Differences Students’ Lesson Plans
The following are student-created lesson plans that incorporate the teachings of MLK into potential activities professors can do with their students.
- MLK Lesson Plan – What Would Dr. King Say to Us Now (S. Phillips).pdf
- MLK Lesson Plan – Practicing Curiosity in Conversation (J. Delessio).pdf
- MLK Lesson Plan – Mission Impossible _Working Around the Tension (M.Lord).pdf
Additional Lesson Plans
- Tools for Building King’s “Beloved Community”: Interactive Exercises and Stories for community building — from 5 minutes to a whole class period.
- Reflection Cards: Prompts that can be used in various settings to stimulate conversation about social justice
- The Bonner Network has a vast collection of workshops and curriculum on social justice topics. Here is an overview on their Education and Reflection page, and here is the Alphabetical Listing of Training Modules and Training by Skill Category. Sam Hi-DiMuzio has a lot of experience with these, so feel free to reach out to her at hadimuzs@dickinson.edu.
Guided Lessons from the American Archive of Public Broadcasting
- Lessons About the Black Power Movement: Collection of video and audio clips from the 1960s of Black Power advocates and activists speaking in interviews, conferences, rallies, protests, television broadcasts, and press conferences. The guided lessons are designed to allow students to see how Black Power definitions and issues evolved over time and to consider how and why African Americans from different walks of life thought about and engaged with the movement.
- Freedom Riders: In 1961, civil rights activists rode on buses into southern states to challenge the segregation of interstate buses and bus stations. This collection features Primary Source Discussion Sets and interviews with John Lewis, Freedom Riders, historians, former students, and the Special Assistant to Attorney Robert F. Kennedy.
- The Woman Series, a 30 min. public affairs talk show, aired on PBS from 1973-77. Topics discussed on the show included women in sports, the Equal Rights Amendment, sexuality, marriage, women’s health, divorce, the Women’s Liberation Movement, motherhood, and ageism, among others. Guests included Betty Freidan, Gloria Steinem, Dorothy Pitman Hughes, Nora Ephron, Marica Ann Gillespie, Connie Uri, and Marie Sanchez.
Articles, Poetry, and Podcast Discussions
- Article: Teaching and Learning about Martin Luther King, Jr. with The New York Times
- Article: Martin Luther King, Jr. in Dialogue with the Ancient Greeks (about King’s classical allusions in the “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” speech).
- Poems of Protest, Resistance, and Empowerment: Why poetry is necessary and sought after during crises. This Poetry Foundation collection includes poems by Langston Hughes, Maya Angelou, Gwendolyn Brooks, Allen Ginsberg, Adrienne Rich, Sonya Sanchez, James Baldwin, and many others.
- MLK, The Declaration, and The Constitution: We the People Podcast (63 min.) Jeffrey Rosen (head of the Constitution center, and Dickinson’s Roberts Lecturer this year) and his guests discuss “King’s thinking about the relationship between the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, as well as his views on agape and universal love, and more, through a close reading and analysis of some of his most significant speeches and writings.”
- Colorblindness and the Classics: Podcast in which Classical Philosopher Andre Archie argues that we need to bring back King’s vision today.
Library Guide
Civil Rights, and Social Justice, and MLK-Themed books and other resources are available at this MLK Library Resource Guide.
