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As a cumulative project option the students will reflect back on what they've learned about the Civil Rights Movement. Students will write about their feelings during the text set, the different perspectives they learned about, and other things they found meaningful. Students will then use these writings to create a Wordle. These Wordles will be displayed both in school and also shared online in a blog post.

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Students will learn about the 1999 Philadelphia Folklore Project exhibition titled "Big Shoes to Fill." The exhibition included over 100 pairs of actual shoes and stories from their owners about how they were inspired to take action. Students will then create their own "big shoes to fill." Students will choose someone they have learned about throughout the text set and as a cumulative project complete their shoe project by explaining why the chose the person they did, what that person did to inspire them, and their plans to take action themselves. The shoes will be displayed in an exhibition to be visited by other classes as well as parents.

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This is an episode of the Netflix Original Series "explained." The episode is titled "The Racial Wealth Gap."

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This enlightening series from Vox digs into a wide range of topics such as the rise of cryptocurrency, why diets fail, and the wild world of K-pop. Watch trailers & learn more.

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This is the mission statement of the modern Black Lives Matter movement which fights for the lives and freedom of black people across the country.

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Civil Rights Then and Now: A Timeline of the Fight for Equality in America by Kristina Brooke Daniele

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Civil Rights Then and Now: A Timeline of the Fight for Equality in America by Kristina Brooke Daniele

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This book offers a comprehensive overview of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960's and the systematic oppression of so many minorities that still occurs today. The book implores its readers to become activists in their own right to fight against these modern struggles.

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A is for Activist is an ABC board book that was written for the next generation of people who want to be unapologetic about everything from environmentalism to civil rights to the rights of the LGBTQ community.

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This is a biography of President Barack Obama, the first African American president of the United States. Without the sacrifice and determination of the people, both black and white, during the Civil Rights Movement having an African American president wouldn't have been possible.

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Racism and Intolerance by Louise Spilsbury

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Racism and Intolerance by Louise Spilsbury

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This picturebook is one that invites white children and their parents to think more critically about racism in today's society, accept it, and act for justice. It addresses the civic responsibility that people of privilege need to take up in order to gain equality for all.

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Not My Idea: A Book About Whiteness by Anastasia Higginbotham 

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Not My Idea: A Book About Whiteness by Anastasia Higginbotham 

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This picturebook is one that invites white children and their parents to think more critically about racism in today's society, accept it, and act for justice. It addresses the civic responsibility that people of privilege need to take up in order to gain equality for all.

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Something Happened in Our Town by Marianne Celano, Marietta Collins, and Ann Hazzard 

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Something Happened in Our Town by Marianne Celano, Marietta Collins, and Ann Hazzard 

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In this book there is a police shooting in which a black man is shot. This event is discussed in the book by a white family and a black family. The purpose of the book is to answer questions about an event such as this and to help children identify and counteract racial injustice in their own lives.

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After reading each book in this subtopic the students would divide up into groups by book title and begin discussion on a reader’s theater script that could be used to act out their assigned book. These scripts can be acted out in front of other classes of students to increase their awareness of how ordinary people combatted the racism of the country during the Civil Rights Movement in an attempt to make change.

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Nobody Gonna Turn Me ‘Round: Stories and Songs of the Civil Rights Movement by Doreen Rappaport. Students would choose a song from the book that they feel is compelling or has a strong message. They would listen to the songs, if possible, and then create a Storybird based on the song they chose. The Storybirds would then be shared online to reach a wider audience as well as be shared within the class.

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This is a recording of the song Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around by Sweet Honey in the Rock.

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This is an excerpt of the address President Lyndon B. Johnson made to Congress following the march from Selma to Montgomery calling for the passage of the Civil Rights Act.

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Excerpt: LBJ's Voting Rights Speech  "The  American Promise"

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Child of the Civil Rights Movement by Paula Young Shelton

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Child of the Civil Rights Movement by Paula Young Shelton

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Paula Young Shelton is the daughter of Andrew Young, a prominent Civil Rights activist. She describes her experiences as a child surrounded by a community of leaders, which includes Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., or to her Uncle Martin. Paula details how she joined her family in the march from Selma to Montgomery.

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Nobody Gonna Turn Me 'Round: Stories and Songs of the Civil Rights Movement by Doreen Rappaport

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Nobody Gonna Turn Me 'Round: Stories and Songs of the Civil Rights Movement by Doreen Rappaport

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This book examines stories both well and lesser known that helped strengthen the momentum of the Civil Rights Movement. Strewn throughout the book are lyrics to songs from the era that act as punctuation to the incredibly moving stories within.

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The Story of Ruby Bridges by Robert Coles

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The Story of Ruby Bridges by Robert Coles

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Ruby Bridges is only six years old when her family moves to New Orleans and a judge orders her to attend an all white school. This book details her experiences facing mobs of parents who refuse to send their children to school with an African American child.

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Boycott Blues by Andrea Pinkney: How Rosa Parks Inspired a Nation

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Boycott Blues by Andrea Pinkney: How Rosa Parks Inspired a Nation

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Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus. Following her arrest supporters protested by boycotting the public transportation system. This is a tribute to the many people who drove taxis, rode bikes, and walked and walked until they got justice.

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Sit In: How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down by Andrea Davis Pinkney

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Sit In: How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down by Andrea Davis Pinkney

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Four friends sit down at a lunch counter and order doughnuts and coffee. This lunch counter, however, was whites only. Inspired by Dr. King's words of peaceful protests four young men show great courage and determination standing up for what's right.

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She Stood for Freedom: The Untold Story of a Civil Rights Hero, Joan Trumpauer Mulholland by Loki Mulholland and Angela Fairwell

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She Stood for Freedom: The Untold Story of a Civil Rights Hero, Joan Trumpauer Mulholland by Loki Mulholland and Angela Fairwell

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Joan Trumpauer Mulholland was a white teenager in the south during the Civil Rights Movement. She found segregation abhorrent and put herself on the front lines of the struggle. She participated in a number of protests and marches for the cause. This is a biography of a great ally to the cause.

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Students will write a diary entry from the viewpoint of someone attending the March on Washington. The diaries will be complied into a book that each member of the class can have and that can be distributed online as well.

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After viewing the interview with Representative John Lewis students will create a multimedia poster for the March on Washington. On their poster the students will explain why the march is happening and will use their choices for the poster in an effort to draw people in for support of the march.

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This is a letter written by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. while inside the Birmingham City Jail following his arrest for protesting in Birmingham.

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MY DEAR FELLOW CLERGYMEN:

While confined here in the Birmingham city jail, I came across your recent statement calling our present activities "unwise and untimely." Seldom, if ever, do I pause to answer criticism of my work and ideas. If I sought to answer all the criticisms that cross my desk, my secretaries would be engaged in little else in the course of the day, and I would have no time for constructive work. But since I feel that you are men of genuine good will and your criticisms are sincerely set forth, I want to try to answer your statements in what I hope will be patient and reasonable terms.

I think I should give the reason for my being in Birmingham, since you have been influenced by the argument of "outsiders coming in." I have the honor of serving as president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization operating in every Southern state, with headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. We have some eighty-five affiliate organizations all across the south- one being the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights. Whenever necessary and possible we share staff, educational and financial resources with our affiliates. Several months ago our local affiliate here in Birmingham invited us to be on call to engage in a nonviolent direct-action program if such were deemed necessary. We readily consented and when the hour came we lived up to our promises. So I am here, along with several members of my staff, because we were invited here. I am here because I have basic organizational ties here.

Beyond this, I am in Birmingham because injustice is here. Just as the eighth century prophets left their little villages and carried their "thus saith the Lord" far beyond the boundaries of their home towns, and just as the Apostle Paul left his little village of Tarsus and carried the gospel of Jesus Christ to practically every hamlet of the Greco-Roman world, I too am compelled to carry the gospel of freedom beyond my own home town. Like Paul, I must constantly respond to the Macedonian call for aid.

Moreover, I am cognizant of the interrelatedness of all communities and states. I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. Never again can we afford to live with the narrow, provincial "outside agitator" idea. Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere in this country.

You deplore the demonstrations that are presently taking place in Birmingham. But I am sorry that your statement did not express a similar concern for the conditions that brought about the demonstrations. I am sure that each of you would want to go beyond the superficial social analysis that deals merely with effects; and does not grapple with underlying causes. I would not hesitate to say that it is unfortunate that so-called demonstrations are taking place in Birmingham at this time, but I would say in more emphatic terms that it is even more unfortunate that the white power structure of the city left the Negro community with no alternative.

In any nonviolent campaign there are four basic steps: collection of the facts to determine whether injustices are alive; negotiation; self-purification; and direct action. We have gone through all of these steps in Birmingham. There can be no gainsaying of the fact that racial injustice engulfs this community. Birmingham is probably the most thoroughly segregated city in the United States. Its ugly record of brutality is known in every section of this country. Its unjust treatment of Negroes in the courts is a notorious reality. There have been more unsolved bombings of Negro homes and churches in Birmingham than in any other city in the nation. These are the hard, brutal and unbelievable facts. On the basis of these conditions, Negro leaders sought to negotiate with the city fathers. But the political leaders consistently refused to engage in good-faith negotiation.

Then came the opportunity last September to talk with some of the leaders of Birmingham's economic community. In these negotiation sessions, certain promises were made by the merchants -such as the promise, to remove the stores humiliating racial signs from stores. On the basis of these promises, Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth and the leaders of the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights agreed to a moratorium on any type of demonstration. As the weeks and months went by, we realized that we were the victims of a broken promise. The signs remained.

Like so many experiences of the past we were confronted with blasted hopes, and the dark shadow of deep disappointment settled upon us. So we had no alternative except preparing for direct action, whereby we would present our very bodies as a means of laying our case before the conscience of the local and the national community. We were not unmindful of the difficulties involved. So we decided to undertake a process of self-purification. We started having workshops on nonviolence, and we repeatedly asked ourselves the questions: "Are you able to accept blows without retaliating?" "Are you able to endure the ordeal of jail?" We decided to set our direct-action program around the Easter season, realizing that except for Christmas, this is the largest shopping period of the year. Knowing that a strong withdrawal program would be the by-product of direct action, we felt that this would be the best time to bring pressure on the merchants for the needed changes.

Then it occurred to us that Birmingham's mayoralty election was coming up in March, and so we speedily decided to postpone action until after election day. When we discovered that the Commissioner of Public Safety, Eugene "Bull" Connor, had piled up enough votes to be in the run-off, we decided again to postpone action so that the demonstrations could not be used to cloud the issues. At this time we agreed to begin out nonviolent witness the day after the run-off.

This reveals that we did not move irresponsibly into direct action. We too wanted to see Mr. Connor defeated; so we went through postponement after postponement to aid in this community need. After this we felt that direct action could be delayed no longer.

You may well ask: "Why direct action? Why sit-ins, marches and so forth? Isn't negotiation a better path?" You are quite right in your call for negotiation. Indeed, this is the very purpose of direct action. Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such creative tension that a community that has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored. I just referred to the creation of tension as part of the work of the nonviolent-resister may sound rather shocking. But I must confess that I am not afraid of the word "tension." I have earnestly worked and preached against violent tension, but there is a type of constructive, nonviolent tension which is necessary for growth. Just as Socrates felt that it was necessary to create a tension in the mind so that individuals could rise from the bondage of myths and half-truths to the unfettered realm of creative analysis and objective appraisal, we must see the need of having nonviolent gadflies to create the kind of tension in society that will help men rise from the dark depths of prejudice and racism to the majestic heights of understanding and brotherhood. So the purpose of our direct-action program is to create a situation so crisis-packed that it will inevitably open the door to negotiation. We, therefore concur with you in your call for negotiation. Too long has our beloved Southland been bogged in a tragic attempt to live in monologue rather than dialogue.

One of the basic points in your statement is that the actions are untimely. Some have asked: "Why didn't you give the new city administration time to act?" The only answer that I can give to this inquiry is that the new Birmingham administration must be prodded about as much as the outgoing one before it acts. We will be sadly mistaken if we feel that the election of Albert Boutwell as mayor will bring the millennium to Birmingham. While Mr. Boutwell is a much more gentle and articulate person than Mr. Connor, they are both segregationists, dedicated to maintaining the status quo. The hope that I see in Mr. Boutwell is that he will be reasonable enough to see the futility of massive resistance to desegregation. But he will not see this without pressure from devotees of civil rights. My friends, I must say to you that we have not made a single gain civil rights without determined legal and nonviolent pressure. History is the long and tragic story of the fact that privileged groups seldom give up their privileges voluntarily. Individuals may see the moral light and voluntarily give up their unjust posture; but, as Reinhold Niebuhr has reminded us, groups tend to be more immoral than individuals.

We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. Frankly, I have yet to engage in a direct-action campaign that was "well timed" in the view of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation. For years now I have heard the word "Wait!" It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This "Wait" has almost always meant "Never." It has been a tranquilizing thalidomide relieving the emotional stress for a moment only to give birth to an ill formed infant of frustration. We must come to see with our distinguished jurists of yesterday, that "justice too long delayed is justice denied."

We have waited for more than 340 years for our constitutional and God-given rights. The nations of Asia and Africa are moving with jetlike speed toward gaining political independence, but we stiff creep at horse-and-buggy pace toward gaining a cup of coffee at a lunch counter. Perhaps it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging faces of segregation to say, "Wait." But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate-filled policemen curse, kick and even kill your black brothers and sisters with impunity; when you see the vast majority of your twenty million Negro brothers smothering in an airtight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society; when you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six-year-old daughter why she can't go to the public amusement park that has just been advertised on television, and see tears welling up in her little eyes when she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children, and see the depressing clouds of inferiority begin to form in her little mental sky, and see her begin to distort her personality unconsciously developing a bitterness toward white people; when you have to concoct an answer for a five-year-old son who is asking: "Daddy, why do white people treat colored people so mean?"; when you take a cross-county drive and find it necessary to sleep night after night in the uncomfortable corners of your automobile because no motel will accept you; when you are humiliated day in and day out by nagging signs reading "white" and "colored"; when your first name becomes "nigger," your middle name becomes "boy" (however old you are) and your last name becomes "John," and your wife and mother are never given the respected title "Mrs."; when you are harried by day and haunted by night by the fact that you are a Negro, living constantly at tiptoe stance, never quite knowing what to expect next, and are plagued with inner fears and outer resentments; when you are forever fighting a degenerating sense of "nobodiness" then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait. There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over, and men are no longer willing to be plunged into the abyss of despair. I hope, sirs, you can understand our legitimate and unavoidable impatience.

You express a great deal of anxiety over our willingness to break laws. This is certainly a legitimate concern. Since we so diligently urge people to obey the Supreme Court's decision of 1954 outlawing segregation in the public schools, at first glance it may seem rather strange and paradoxical to find us consciously breaking laws. One may well ask: "How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others?" The answer lies in the fact that there are two types of laws: just and unjust. One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that "an unjust law is no law at all."

Now, what is the difference between the two? How does one determine whether a law is just or unjust? A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law. To put it in the terms of St. Thomas Aquinas: An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law. Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust. All segregation statutes are unjust because segregation distort the soul and damages the personality. It gives the segreg ator a false sense of superiority and the segregated a false sense of inferiority. Segregation, to use the terminology of the Jewish philosopher Martin Buber, substitutes an "I-it" relationship for an "I-thou" relationship and ends up relegating persons to the status of things. So segregation is not only politically, economically and sociologically unsound, it is morally wrong and sinful. Paul Tillich said that sin is separation. Is not segregation an existential expression of man's tragic separation, his awful estrangement, his terrible sinfulness? Thus it is that I can urge men to obey the 1954 decision of the Supreme Court, for it is morally right; and I can urge them to disobey segregation ordinances, for they are morally wrong.

Let us consider a more concrete example of just and unjust laws. An unjust law is a code that a numerical or power majority group compels a minority group to obey but does not make binding on itself. This is difference made legal. On the other hand, a just law is a code that a majority compels a minority to follow and that it is willing to follow itself. This is sameness made legal.

Let me give another explanation. An unjust law is a code inflicted on a minority that, as a result of being denied the right to vote, had no part in enacting or devising the law. Who can say that the legislature of Alabama which set up that state's segregation laws was democratically elected? Throughout Alabama all types of devious methods are used to prevent Negroes from becoming registered voters, and there are some counties in which, even though Negroes constitute a majority of the population, not a single Negro is registered. Can any law enacted under such circumstances be considered democratically structured?

Sometimes a law is just on its face and unjust in its application. For instance, I was arrested Friday on a charge of parading without a permit. Now, there is nothing wrong in having an ordinance which requires a permit for a parade. But such an ordinance becomes unjust when it is used to maintain segregation and to deny citizens the First Amendment privilege of peaceful assembly and protest.

I hope you are able to see the distinction I am trying to point out. In no sense do I advocate evading or defying the law, as would the rabid segregationist. That would lead to anarchy. One who breaks an unjust law must do so openly, lovingly, and with a willingness to accept the penalty. I submit that an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for law.

Of course, there is nothing new about this kind of civil disobedience. It was seen sublimely in the refusal of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego to obey the laws of Nebuchadnezzar, because a higher moral law was involved. It was practiced superbly by the early Christians, who were willing to face hungry lions and the excruciating pain of chopping blocks rather than submit to certain unjust laws of the Roman Empire. To a degree, academic freedom is a reality today because Socrates practiced civil disobedience. In our own nation, the Boston Tea Party represented a massive act of civil disobedience.

We can never forget that everything Adolf Hitler did in Germany was "legal" and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary was "illegal." It was "illegal" to aid and comfort a Jew in Hitler's Germany. But, I am sure that, if I had lived in Germany at the time, I would have aided and comforted my Jewish brothers even though it was illegal. If today I lived in a Communist country where certain principles dear to the Christian faith are suppressed, I believe I would openly advocate disobeying that country's antireligious laws.

I must make two honest confessions to you, my Christian and Jewish brothers. First, I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to "order" than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action"; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a "more convenient season." Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.

I had hoped that the white moderate would understand that law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice; and that when they fail in this purpose they become the dangerously structured dams that block the flow of social progress. I had hoped that the white moderate would understand that the present tension in the South is a necessary phase of the transition from an obnoxious negative peace, where the Negro passively accepted his unjust plight, to a substance filled and positive peace, where all men will respect the dignity and worth of human personality. Actually, we who engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive. We bring it out in the open, where it can be seen and dealt with. Like a boil that can never be cured so long as it is covered up but must be opened with all its pus-flowing ugliness to the natural medicines of air and light, injustice must be exposed, with all the tension its exposure creates, to the light of human conscience and the air of national opinion before it can be cured.

In your statement you assert that our actions, even though peaceful, must be condemned because they precipitate violence. But is this a logical assertion? Isn't this like condemning a robbed man because his possession of money precipitated the evil act of robbery? Isn't this like condemning Socrates because his unswerving commitment to truth and his philosophical inquiries precipitated the misguided popular mind to make him drink hemlock? Isn't this like condemning Jesus because his unique God-consciousness and never-ceasing devotion to God's will precipitated the evil act of crucifixion? We must come to see as federal courts have consistently affirmed, it is immoral to urge an individual to cease his efforts to gain his basic constitutional rights because the quest may precipitates violence. Society must protect the robbed and punish the robber.

I had also hoped that the white moderate would reject the myth concerning time in relation to the struggle for freedom. I have just received a letter from a white brother in Texas. He writes: "All Christians know that the colored people will receive equal rights eventually, but it is possible that you are in too great of a religious hurry. It has taken Christianity almost two thousand years to accomplish what it has. The teachings of Christ take time to come to earth." Such an attitude stems from a tragic misconception of time, from the strangely rational notion that there is something in the very flow of time that will inevitably cure all ills. Actually, time itself is neutral; it can be used either destructively or constructively. More and more I feel that the people of ill will have used time much more effectively than have the people of good will. We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people. Human progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability; it comes through the tireless efforts and persistent work of men willing to be co-workers with God, and without this hard work time itself becomes an ally of the forces of social stagnation. We must use time creatively, and forever realize that the time is always ripe to do right. Now is the time to make real the promise of democracy; and transform our pending national elegy into a creative psalm of brotherhood. Now is the time to lift our national policy from the quicksand of racial injustice to the solid rock of human dignity.

You spoke of our activity in Birmingham as extreme. At fist I was rather disappointed that fellow clergymen would see my nonviolent efforts as those of the extremist. I started thinking about the fact that stand in the middle of two opposing forces in the Negro community. One is a force of complacency made up in part of Negroes who, as a result of long years of oppression, are so drained of self-respect and a sense of "somebodiness" that they have adjusted to segregation; and, of a few middle class Negroes who, because of a degree of academic and economic security and because in some ways they profit by segregation, have become insensitive to the problems of the masses. The other force is one of bitterness and hatred, and it comes perilously close to advocating violence. It is expressed in the various black nationalist groups that are springing up across the nation, the largest and best-known being Elijah Muhammad's Muslim movement. Nourished by the Negro's frustration over the continued existence of racial discrimination, this movement is made up of people who have lost faith in America, who have absolutely repudiated Christianity, and who have concluded that the white man is an incorrigible "devil."

I have tried to stand between these two forces, saying that we need emulate neither the "do-nothingism" of the complacent nor the hatred and despair of the black nationalist. For there is the more excellent way of love and nonviolent protest. I am grateful to God that, through the influence of the Negro church, the way of nonviolence became an integral part of our struggle.

If this philosophy had not emerged, by now many streets of the South would, I am convinced, be flowing with blood. And I am further convinced that if our white brothers dismiss as "rabble-rousers" and "outside agitators" those of us who employ nonviolent direct action and if they refuse to support our nonviolent efforts, millions of Negroes will, out of frustration and despair, seek solace and security in black-nationalist ideologies a development that would inevitably lead to a frightening racial nightmare.

Oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever. The yearning for freedom eventually manifests itself. This is what has happened to the American Negro. Something within has reminded him of his birthright of freedom, and something without has reminded him that it can be gained. Consciously and unconsciously, he has been caught up by the Zeitgeist, and with his black brothers of Africa and his brown and yellow brothers of Asia, South America and the Caribbean, the United States Negro is moving with a sense of great urgency toward the promised land of racial justice. If one recognizes this vital urge that has engulfed the Negro community, one should readily understand why public demonstrations are taking place. The Negro has many pent-up resentments and latent frustrations. He must release them. So let him march; let him make prayer pilgrimages to the city halls; let him go on freedom rides-and try to understand why he must do so. If his repressed emotions are not released in nonviolent ways, they will seek expression through ominous violence. This is not a threat; it is a fact of history. So I have not said to my people: "Get rid of your discontent." Rather, I have tried to say that this normal and healthy discontent can be channeled into the creative outlet of nonviolent direct action. And now this approach is being termed extremist.

But though I was initially disappointed at being categorized as an extremist, as I continued to think about the matter I gradually gained a measure of satisfaction from the label. Was not Jesus an extremist for love: "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you." Was not Amos an extremist for justice: "Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream." Was not Paul an extremist for the Christian gospel: "I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus." Was not Martin Luther an extremist: "Here I stand; I cannot do otherwise, so help me God." And John Bunyan: "I will stay in jail to the end of my days before I make a butchery of my conscience." And Abraham Lincoln: "This nation cannot survive half slave and half free." And Thomas Jefferson: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that an men are created equal ..." So the question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be. We we be extremists for hate or for love? Will we be extremist for the preservation of injustice or for the extension of justice? In that dramatic scene on Calvary's hill three men were crucified. We must never forget that all three were crucified for the same crime-the crime of extremism. Two were extremists for immorality, and thus fell below their environment. The other, Jesus Christ, was an extremist for love, truth and goodness, and thereby rose above his environment. Perhaps the South, the nation and the world are in dire need of creative extremists.

I had hoped that the white moderate would see this need. Perhaps I was too optimistic; perhaps I expected too much. I suppose I should have realized that few members of the oppressor race can understand the deep groans and passionate yearnings of the oppressed race, and still fewer have the vision to see that injustice must be rooted out by strong, persistent and determined action. I am thankful, however, that some of our white brothers in the South have grasped the meaning of this social revolution and committed themselves to it. They are still too few in quantity, but they are big in quality. Some like Ralph McGill, Lillian Smith, Harry Golden, James McBride Dabbs, Ann Braden and Sarah Patton Boyle-have written about our struggle in eloquent and prophetic terms. Others have marched with us down nameless streets of the South. They have languished in filthy, roach-infested jails, suffering the abuse and brutality of policemen who view them as "dirty nigger lovers." Unlike so many of their moderate brothers and sisters, they have recognized the urgency of the moment and sensed the need for powerful "action" antidotes to combat the disease of segregation.

Let me take note of my other major disappointment. I have been so greatly disappointed with the white church and its leadership. Of course, there are some notable exceptions. I am not unmindful of the fact that each of you has taken some significant stands on this issue. I commend you, Reverend Stallings, for your Christian stand on this past Sunday, in welcoming Negroes to your worship service on a non segregated basis. I commend the Catholic leaders of this state for integrating Spring Hill College several years ago.

But despite these notable exceptions, I must honestly reiterate that I have been disappointed with the church. I do not say this as one of those negative critics who can always find something wrong with the church. I say this as a minister of the gospel, who loves the church; who was nurtured in its bosom; who has been sustained by its spiritual blessings and who will remain true to it as long as the cord of life shall lengthen.

Suddenly I had a strange feeling when I was catapulted into the leadership of the bus protest in Montgomery, Alabama, a few years ago, that we would have the supported by the white church. I felt that the white ministers, priests and rabbis of the South would be among our strongest allies. Instead, some have been outright opponents, refusing to understand the freedom movement and misrepresenting its leaders; an too many others have been more cautious than courageous and have remained silent behind the anesthetizing security of stained-glass windows.

In spite of my shattered dreams of the past, I came to Birmingham with the hope that the white religious leadership of this community would see the justice of our cause and, with deep moral concern, would serve as the channel through which our just grievances could reach the power structure. I had hoped that each of you would understand. But again I have been disappointed.

I have heard numerous southern religious leaders admonish their worshipers to comply with a desegregation decision because it is the law, but I have longed to hear white ministers declare: "Follow this decree because integration is morally right and because the Negro is your brother." In the midst of blatant injustices inflicted upon the Negro, I have watched white churchmen stand on the sideline and mouth pious irrelevancies and sanctimonious trivialities. In the midst of a mighty struggle to rid our nation of racial and economic injustice, I have heard many ministers say: "Those are social issues, with which the gospel has no real concern." And I have watched many churches commit themselves to a completely other worldly religion which makes a strange distinction between body and soul, between the sacred and the secular.

I have traveled the length and breadth of Alabama, Mississippi and all the other southern states. On sweltering summer days and crisp autumn mornings I have looked at the South's beautiful churches with their lofty spires pointing heavenward. I have beheld the impressive outlines of her massive religious-education buildings. Over and over I have found myself asking: "What kind of people worship here? Who is their God? Where were their voices when the lips of Governor Barnett dripped with words of interposition and nullification? Where were they when Governor Walleye gave a clarion call for defiance and hatred? Where were their voices of support when bruised and weary Negro men and women decided to rise from the dark dungeons of complacency to the bright hills of creative protest?"

Yes, these questions are still in my mind. In deep disappointment I have wept over the laxity of the church. But be assured that my tears have been tears of love. There can be no deep disappointment where there is not deep love. Yes, I love the church. How could I do otherwise? l am in the rather unique position of being the son, the grandson and the great-grandson of preachers. Yes, I see the church as the body of Christ. But, oh! How we have blemished and scarred that body through social neglect and through fear of being nonconformists.

There was a time when the church was very powerful.It was during that period when the early Christians rejoiced at being deemed worthy to suffer for what they believed. In those days the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society. Whenever the early Christians entered a town, the people in power became disturbed and immediately sought to convict the Christians for being "disturbers of the peace" and "outside agitators"' But the Christians pressed on, in the conviction that they were "a colony of heaven," called to obey God rather than man. Small in number, they were big in commitment. They were too God intoxicated to be "astronomically intimidated." By their effort and example they brought an end to such ancient evils as infanticide. and gladiatorial contests.

Things are different now. So often the contemporary church is a weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound. So often it is an archdefender of the status quo. Far from being disturbed by the presence of the church, the power structure of the average community is consoled by the church's silent and often even vocal sanction of things as they are.

But the judgment of God is upon the church as never before. If today's church does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church, it will lose its authenticity, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the twentieth century. Every day I meet young people whose disappointment with the church has turned into outright disgust.

Perhaps I have once again been too optimistic. Is organized religion too inextricably bound to the status quo to save our nation and the world? Perhaps I must turn my faith to the inner spiritual church, the church within the church, as the true ecclesia and the hope of the world. But again I am thankful to God that some noble souls from the ranks of organized religion have broken loose from the paralyzing chains of conformity and joined us as active partners in the struggle for freedom, They have left their secure congregations and walked the streets of Albany, Georgia, with us. They have gone down the highways of the South on tortuous rides for freedom. Yes, they have gone to jail with us. Some have been dismissed from their churches, have lost the support of their bishops and fellow ministers. But they have acted in the faith that right defeated is stronger than evil triumphant. Their witness has been the spiritual salt that has preserved the true meaning of the gospel in these troubled times. They have carved a tunnel of hope through the dark mountain of disappointment.

I hope the church as a whole will meet the challenge of this decisive hour. But even if the church does not come to the aid of justice, I have no despair about the future. I have no fear about the outcome of our struggle in Birmingham, even if our motives are at present misunderstood. We will reach the goal of freedom in Birmingham, and all over the nation, because the goal of America is freedom. Abused and scorned though we may be, our destiny is tied up with America's destiny. Before the pilgrims landed at Plymouth, we were here. Before the pen of Jefferson etched the majestic words of the Declaration of Independence across the pages of history, we were here. For more than two centuries our forebears labored in this country without wages; they made cotton king; they built the homes of their masters while suffering gross injustice and shameful humiliation-and yet out of a bottomless vitality they continued to thrive and develop. If the inexpressible cruelties of slavery could not stop us, the opposition we now face will surely fail. We will win our freedom because the sacred heritage of our nation and the eternal will of God are embodied in our echoing demands.

Before closing I feel impelled to mention one other point in your statement that has troubled me profoundly. You warmly commended the Birmingham police force for keeping "order" and "preventing violence." I doubt that you would have so warmly commended the police force if you had seen its angry dogs sinking their teeth into unarmed, nonviolent Negroes. I doubt that you would so quickly commend the policemen if you were to observe their ugly and inhumane treatment of Negroes here in the city jail; if you were to watch them push and curse old Negro women and young Negro girls; if you were to see them slap and kick old Negro men and young boys; if you were to observe them, as they did on two occasions, refuse to give us food because we wanted to sing our grace together. I cannot join you in your praise of the Birmingham police department.

It is true that the police have exercised a degree of discipline in handing the demonstrators. In this sense they have conducted themselves rather "nonviolently" in pubic. But for what purpose? To preserve the evil system of segregation. Over the past few years I have consistently preached that nonviolence demands that the means we use must be as pure as the ends we seek. I have tried to make clear that it is wrong to use immoral means to attain moral ends. But now I must affirm that it is just as wrong, or perhaps even more so, to use moral means to preserve immoral ends. Perhaps Mr. Connor and his policemen have been rather nonviolent in public, as was Chief Pritchett in Albany, Georgia but they have used the moral means of nonviolence to maintain the immoral end of racial injustice. As T. S. Eliot has said: "The last temptation is the greatest treason: to do the right deed for the wrong reason."

I wish you had commended the Negro sit-inners and demonstrators of Birmingham for their sublime courage, their willingness to suffer and their amazing discipline in the midst of great provocation. One day the South will recognize its real heroes. They will be the James Merediths, with the noble sense of purpose that enables them to face jeering, and hostile mobs, and with the agonizing loneliness that characterizes the life of the pioneer. They will be old, oppressed, battered Negro women, symbolized in a seventy-two-year-old woman in Montgomery, Alabama, who rose up with a sense of dignity and with her people decided not to ride segregated buses, and who responded with ungrammatical profundity to one who inquired about her weariness: "My feets is tired, but my soul is at rest." They will be the young high school and college students, the young ministers of the gospel and a host of their elders, courageously and nonviolently sitting in at lunch counters and willingly going to jail for conscience sake. One day the South will know that when these disinherited children of God sat down at lunch counters, they were in reality standing up for what is best in the American dream and for the most sacred values in our Judaeo-Christian heritage, thereby bringing our nation back to those great wells of democracy which were dug deep by the founding fathers in their formulation of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.

Never before have I written so long a letter. I'm afraid it is much too long to take your precious time. I can assure you that it would have been much shorter if I had been writing from a comfortable desk, but what else can one do when he is alone in a narrow jail cell, other than write long letters, think long thoughts and pray long prayers?

If I have said anything in this letter that overstates the truth and indicates an unreasonable impatience, I beg you to forgive me. If I have said anything that understates the truth and indicates my having a patience that allows me to settle for anything less than brotherhood, I beg God to forgive me.

I hope this letter finds you strong in the faith. I also hope that circumstances will soon make it possible for me to meet each of you, not as an integrationist or a civil rights leader but as a fellow clergyman and a Christian brother. Let us all hope that the dark clouds of racial prejudice will soon pass away and the deep fog of misunderstanding will be lifted from our fear-drenched communities, and in some not too distant tomorrow the radiant stars of love and brotherhood will shine over our great nation with all their scintillating beauty.

Yours for the cause of Peace and Brotherhood,

MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.
All typographical errors are from the original source and therefore have not been corrected.

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Letter From Birmingham City Jail | Teaching American History

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MY DEAR FELLOW CLERGYMEN: While confined here in the Birmingham city jail, I came across your recent statement calling our present activities "unwise and untimely." Seldom, if ever, do I pause to answer criticism of my work and ideas.

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This is a video of an interview of Representative John Lewis from a TIME Magazine. In it John Lewis recalls the speech he made during the March on Washington.

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The March On Washington: John Lewis's Speech | MLK | TIME

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Harvesting Hope: The Story of Cesar Chavez by Kathleen Krull

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Harvesting Hope: The Story of Cesar Chavez by Kathleen Krull

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African Americans were not the only minority group that was marginalized at this time in American history. Cesar Chavez was an activist fighting for the rights and to improve the lives of thousands of Hispanic migrant farm workers. Cesar had seen his family slave in the fields and barely having enough money to survive. He knows things need to change so he takes matters into his own hands.

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Rosa Parks' protest on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama was an inspiring act for many and one that made Rosa a figurehead of the Civil Rights Movement. Told in prose is the story of that historic event and the aftermath of Rosa Parks' brave choice.

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James Farmer and the Freedom Rides by Robert E. Jakoubek

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James Farmer and the Freedom Rides by Robert E. Jakoubek

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This book presents the life and times of the civil rights activist, James Farmer. James Farmer was the founder of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and was the organizer of the Freedom Rides protests. Though lesser known than some other leaders of the movement, James Farmer played a pivotal role in the Civil Rights Movement.

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I've Seen the Promised Land: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.by Walter Dean Meyers

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I've Seen the Promised Land: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.by Walter Dean Meyers

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Perhaps the most well known leader of the Civil Rights Movement, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. King life is one that moved America closer to the ideals of the movement: freedom and fairness. This book depicts the life of Dr. King through his untimely death.

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John Lewis in the Lead by Jim Haskins and Kathleen Benson

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John Lewis in the Lead by Jim Haskins and Kathleen Benson

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Inspired by the work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., John Lewis joined the fight for civil rights. John Lewis was a staple at many protests and stood strong even in the face of violence. John Lewis continues to fight for equality today from his seat in Congress.

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Malcolm X: A Fire Burning Brightly by Walter Dean Meyers

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Malcolm X: A Fire Burning Brightly by Walter Dean Meyers

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Malcolm X, born Malcolm Little, became one of the most prolific and polarizing leaders of the Civil Rights Movement. This book details the life of Malcolm X through his childhood and up through his assassination.

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Students will research other photographs depicting life before the Civil Rights Movement. Students will choose 3-5 images and create a VoiceThread about them describing what they see in the picture and how the people in each photo may have felt being those situations. The VoiceThreads can be shared with their school as well as the community.

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After viewing the video Eyes on the Prize: “Fighting Back 1957-1962” and using the corresponding transcript students will compose a found word poem using phrases, quotes, or words they found to have great impact or were meaningful to them. The students will record their poems on a podcast which can be shared with a wider audience.

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This is a picture of a bus in the 1960's showing how African American passengers were forced to sit in the back, while white passengers were allotted the better seats in the front of the bus.

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This is a video from a PBS series called Eyes on the Prize: “Fighting Back 1957-1962.”

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Eyes On The Prize - (Part 2) Fighting Back 1957–1962

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This book centers around two young girls, one white and one African American, who are told that it isn’t safe to cross the fence that separates the two sides of town. The two girls develop a friendship despite the fence and find a way around their parents’ rules by sitting atop the fence itself.

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Based on the 1964 Mississippi Freedom School Project, this book details the story of a town of people who fight back against violence and racism to support a new Freedom Teacher whose goal is to teach the town about prominent African American figures of the time.

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The fourth in the Logan family saga, Mississippi Bridge is told from the viewpoint of Jeremy Simms, a white boy whose parents own the convenience store. Jeremy watches as the Logan family sees their grandmother off as she leaves to go tend to a sick relative. Before the bus can leave, however, some white passengers wish to board the bus. Some black passengers are forced off the bus in a brutish fashion. Shortly after tragedy strikes and Jeremy thinks to how differently things may have turned out had the racial inequalities of the time not occurred.

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We Are the Ship: The Story of the Negro Baseball League by Kadir Nelson

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We Are the Ship: The Story of the Negro Baseball League by Kadir Nelson

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The story of the Negro baseball league acts as a mirror to the social and political climate of the twentieth century. This book outlines the baseball league's story from its inception through Jackie Robinson's crossover into the major leagues, giving readers insight into another aspect of life for African Americans before the Civil Rights Movement.

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White Water by Michael S. Bandy and Eric Stein

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White Water by Michael S. Bandy and Eric Stein

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When Michael and his grandmother get on the bus it is very hot and by the time they reach town Michael is parched. The water fountain designated for coloreds is rusty and the water doesn't taste good. Michael sees a white boy at the fountain labeled "Whites Only" and wonders if his water is better. Michael is determined to find out for himself, no matter how much trouble he might get in.

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The Watsons Go To Birmingham by Christopher Paul Curtis

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The Watsons Go To Birmingham by Christopher Paul Curtis

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Willy's family is from Michigan, but when older brother, Byron, becomes too much trouble the family decides to visit Grandma in Birmingham, Alabama. Grandma is believed to be the only one who can get Byron on the right path. During their visit, Grandma's church is bombed. Willy struggles to understand why this has happened.