One year.
Five years.
Ten years.
Twenty years.
Thirty years.
Forty years.
Fifty years.
Time slipped away.
What is the legacy that remains?
Yesterday Google displayed:
From friends on Twitter and Facebook:
Quotes, Speeches, Books and Resources:
15 MLK Quotes that Still Resonate (Newsweek)
Strong Quotes for MLK Day (Al Jazeera)
Inspirational Quotes for MLK Day 2018 (International Business Times)
Martin Luther King Jr. was More Radical than We Remember (TeenVogue)
Martin Luther King Jr Found Inspiration in Thoreau (Tween Tribune)
A Call to Conscience: The Landmark Speeches of MLK (Stanford)
The Greatest MLK Speeches You Never Heard (CNN)
Audios and Texts of His Most Famous Speeches
Celebrate? Yes
Commemorate? Yes
Teach about? Yes. We can do “Write Arounds” where students explain what each quote means to them. We can close read the “I Have a Dream” speech. We can analyze the effectiveness of the rhetorical devices that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. used in his speeches. But is that enough?
Not just THAT ONE DAY! Instead consider what it means to stand for equity for all living in the United States. Consider what it means to have the same quality of life for all who live and work in the United States.
And then live the life that supports EQUITY for ALL!
That’s the legacy,
that’s the living,
that’s the WORLD
that Martin Luther King, Jr. dreamed
and worked for over HALF A CENTURY AGO!
How are you living the “Dream”?
How would we know?
What would be our evidence?
Thank you, Betsy, Beth, Deb, Kathleen, Lanny, Melanie, and Stacey for this weekly forum. Check out the writers, readers and teachers here. 
Resource - Full 
Beautiful page of tribute and resources. Great questions for students and adults!
Aileen,
So complicated by “where you live” and “who” is in your community. We can work on empathy and leadership in spite of current issues. WE MUST! ❤
I shared his Been to the Mountaintop speech, his last speech in TN, with my students and it gave us chills, knowing that the very next day he would be killed. So glad we have this holiday to focus on such an inspiring leader who left us too soon.
Sally,
So true that contextualizing his speeches like you did with “Been to the Mountaintop” adds depth to the meaning. And yes, what an inspiring leader who was gone to soon. He knew the power of WORDS!
We usually only hear snippets of his speeches. Thanks for collecting and posting them hear. It certainly gives us a clear picture of the man and inspires those if us still here, to carry on.
Adrienne,
I had no idea that he had that many speeches. My research definitely added depth to my knowledge! And yes . . . “inspires those of us still here, to carry on.”
Thanks for reading and responding!
These words are so important: “Not just THAT ONE DAY! Instead consider what it means to stand for equity for all living in the United States. Consider what it means to have the same quality of life for all who live and work in the United States.”
EVERYDAY!
Thank you for your post!
Thanks, Christine, for choosing to repeat that paragraph! That was the “mantra” when we had our first school equity visit. And it stuck! You are welcome!
Like so many other noteworthy people throughout history we tend to remember them on their commemorative day and then tend to forget what they stood for and the message they had for the people of the world every other day of the year. This should not be. We need to live every day of our lives inspired by their words. Our actions keep their dreams alive.
It’s hard to maintain a focus, but whose lives should we emulate? Not actors nor sports figures . . . why not great leaders! Espcially those who came from humble beginnings or overcame adversity or even . . . died way too soon! “Our actions keep their dreams alive.” YES!
Fran, thank you so much for taking the time to put all of this in one place. You have SO many amazing resources and ideas. willI
(posted too soon!) I will be passing many of these ideas along to be used in classrooms.
Melanie,
There’s so much power in the spoken word and I believe that MLK was a master orator!
I love the question “How would we know?”
Lisa,
I use that question a lot (I think) because I don’t believe that there is “one set of right actions”, but yet action is necessary in order to continue to grow and learn!!!
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