Resources for Relating MLK and his Legacy to January Term Class Content
For courses that include work by James Baldwin, here are a few resources linking Baldwin and King:
Brief clip of a Baldwin interview where he’s asked whether he shares King’s dream, and if so, what it will take to get there: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=803691456689967
2018 article about Baldwin’s experience of attending King’s funeral that relates closely to his sentiments in “I am Not Your Negro”: https://lithub.com/james-baldwin-i-did-not-want-to-weep-for-martin-tears-seemed-futile/
On King and use of media:
2018 Atlantic article, “When the Revolution was Televised,” on MLK’s masterful use of media to expose injustice: https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/04/televisions-civil-rights-revolution/554639/
MLK’s relevance to contemporary Environmental justice movement:
Grist.org article from 1/19, “What the Environmental Justice Movement Owes to MLK, Jr.”: https://grist.org/article/what-the-environmental-justice-movement-owes-martin-luther-king-jr/
Article from 4/18 linking MLK, race, and environmental justice from Ethicsdaily.com, “How MLK’s Death Birthed Environmental Justice”: https://ethicsdaily.com/how-martin-luther-kings-death-birthed-environmental-justice-cms-24804/
Reading/Listening to MLK, in his own words (students are typically most familiar with the “I Have a Dream” speech of his “Letter from the Birmingham Jail” but are less familiar with the later King, who tends to be more economic and intersectional in his analyses). See particularly:
“Where Do We Go From Here?” King’s most radical address in 1967 to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference: https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/where-do-we-go-here-address-delivered-eleventh-annual-sclc-convention
“A Time to Break the Silence,” King’s speech against the war in Vietnam, that fractured his relationship with President Johnson and caused a significant rift in the civil rights movement. In the speech King connects the plight of African Americans to suffering all around the globe: https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkatimetobreaksilence.htm
Observance of the Martin Luther King Holiday by The King Center
The King Center Teach-In Materials
https://thekingcenter.org/what-we-do/beloved-community-teach-in/