Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Whether you are a history buff or not, this is a great piece on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., as shared by Go Social Studies Go!, an engaging educational web site for students of all ages.  Enjoy this interesting piece on one of the greatest leaders of the civil rights movement:

The name Martin Luther King Jr. is one of the most recognizable in the world. Aside from his leadership role in the Civil Rights movement and the famous "I Have a Dream" speech, few people know about how complex Luther really was.

For starters, the man whose name would inspire a civil rights movement was born Michael, but at the age of five, he and his father took a trip to Germany and visited the birthplace of the Protestant Reformation where his father changed both their names to Martin Luther. King's non-violent struggle was inspired by India's freedom fighter Mohandas K. Gandhi. King made it a point to make a visit to India in 1959 which was a moving experience and an inspiration for his future work in the Civil Rights Movement.

King wore many hats throughout the 1960s, not just as a civil rights leader but as a champion of labor rights, anti-Vietnam protester, and an advocate for third-world prosperity.

Of course, you can't talk about King without mentioning the "I Have a Dream" speech, which he gave to a crowd of a quarter million people who marched on Washington in 1963. Another little tid bit that most people don't know about King is that the most famous lines "...I have a Dream..." were the last part of a much greater speech...and totally ad libbed by King."

Find out more about this great piece of American history at NPR:
www.npr.org/2011/01/17/132905796/dream-speech-writer-jones-reflects-on-king-jr

Source: www.gosocialstudiesgo.com

Tags: Go Social Studies Go, historical facts about Martin Luther King, Jr., Martin Luther King