MORE ABOUT MARTIN

Today is Martin Luther King's birthday.
Today he would have been 85.

Each year during January we remember Martin.
And we learn more about him.

Each year new books are published that teach our children (and us)  more about his dream for our nation and for the world.

Each year we learn more about his desires for all people to have the same rights and equal access to opportunities.

2013 was no different.

Three marvelous new children's books were published this past year from which we can learn more about Martin. Each enlightens us about an event  in Martin Luther King's life of which we may not be aware.
Each explodes a moment of history.

Did you know that Martin Luther King and Mahalia Jackson were friends?
Did you know that she is the reason we have the now famous I Have a Dream Speech?


In Martin & Mahalia: His Words, Her Song,  Andrea Davis Pinkney and Brian Pinkney present a friendship,  parallel stories, and the moment when Mahalia urges Martin to "tell them about your dream"  which brings him front and center. He had talked about his dream on several occasions prior, but thought he would not have time for that segment of thought at the March on Washington. At her urging, the now famous dream words remain part of our living history and continue to be our own dream.

They were each born with the gift of gospel.

These two icons, Martin Luther King Jr. and Mahalia Jackson, both shared their gifts of gospel--words and songs-- on August 28, 1963  on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial at the March on Washington.

To read eyewitness accounts of several who witnessed and heard this moment between Martin and Mahalia that lead to dream history, click here.

Click here to read my earlier post  I Have a Dream Today, written on the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington, which highlights books about Martin Luther King Jr and his I Have a Dream Speech.

And for a review and an extensive sampling of  Pinkney's brilliant  illustrations from this book click here.


Did you know that Martin Luther King's coffin did not ride in a shiny black hearse, but an ordinary cart pulled by mules?

Martin Luther King wanted a common funeral,  not a showy production.  Many of us may not be aware that during his funeral procession, his coffin was carried through the streets of  Atlanta, Georgia --from Ebenezer Baptist Church  past the state capitol to Morehouse College-- in a lowly cart pulled by two mules.

Eve Bunting read about this event and decided to add this story to the growing number of books for children about Martin Luther King.   The Cart That Carried Martin  begins with finding the cart and follows the cart and the procession to its sad, yet hopeful end.


As the cart carrying Martin's coffin made its way slowly through the Atlanta streets, do you know what song they sang?

In We Shall Overcome: The Story of a Song, Debbie Levy tells the story of the song that accompanied the cart  that day, the same song  that was the soundtrack for much of the Civil Rights Movement, and that same song that continues to serve as the background music for human rights struggles throughout the world. She has written a biography of  We Shall Overcome.

We shall overcome.... We shall overcome.... We shall overcome someday-ay ay-ay. Deep in my heaarrrr-t I do believe we shall overcome someday.

As we celebrate
Martin Luther King's birthday
as we remember
his life and legacy
as we continue
his work
and strive
to dream his dream
into reality
we must remember
memorable events
and archival  history
are made up of small moments
that we can explore.
and explode.
And those small moments
teach us
more about the big events
and the people
who lived them.

Happy Birthday Martin!

Today's Deeper Writing Possibilities

Think about a small fact or detail  that you have heard that interests you about Martin Luther King.  Take some time today to research that information to find out more.

Write a narrative, personal essay or poem about that small detail, fact, or moment.
Bring life to your writing  by adding sensory details, conversation, and description.
You may also want to include your own thoughts and speculations.

Turn the moment inside out and examine it closely.
Turn the fact upside down and dig into its background.
Explore the information and explode the moment.

I HAVE A DREAM TODAY

Fifty year ago today, on August  28, 1963, Martin marched and talked and dreamed his dream for our nation.

250,000 people marched  and dreamed with Martin.

They filled the National Mall.

This political gathering, one of the largest until that point, called for jobs and freedom, civil  rights for African- Americans, and racial harmony and peace for all in our nation.

I was 10 years old.
I remember.
The air was different.
Heads were held a little higher and greetings were a bit more enthusiastic in my community.
My parents watched the news even more than usual.
Hope abounded.

We have not yet fulfilled the dream that Martin Luther King Jr. envisioned for us. We have taken steps forward,  but we have not yet brought  into perfect reality the images he outlined  that day in front of the Lincoln Memorial in his I Have a Dream Speech.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day
live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color
of their skin but by the content of their  character. I have
a dream ....

When we allow freedom to ring-when we let it ring
from every city and every hamlet, from every state and
every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all
of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and
Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join
hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual,
"Free at last, Free at last, Great God a-mighty, We axe
free at last."

To read the speech in its entirety click here.
To listen to a recording of King delivering the speech click here

Students in our schools today were not alive when these famous words were spoken.  They were not yet in the world when we were called to create this nation that Martin is describing.

In order for this dream, this vision, this ideal to be achieved we must remember the dream.  We must remind ourselves of what our best selves can look like. We must call each other to be what we should be here in America.

There are many excellent books that introduce our younger citizens to Martin Luther King Jr. and his vision for our world and others that remind our older citizens and all of us to keep this dream alive, to work toward this vision.

Several address the speech and dream itself.

One that has remained a favorite of mine, I Have A Dream,  presents King's speech in its entirety,  includeds a foreword by Coretta Scott King, and is illustrated by 15 Coretta Scott King Award-winning artists. Back matter includes statements from each artists about the meaning of their illustrations along with biographical information, as well as photographs and highlights of  events in King's life.


A new favorite, I Have a Dream (Book & CD), also presents the entire speech along with unmatched illustrations by Kadir Nelson.  This edition  includes a CD of the speech.


What does this speech mean?  What exactly is the dream that King presented then... and now?

We want those who will build our future to not only have heard the speech, listened to the dream, but to also understand what the words mean, what the dream entails, and to realize their role in making this dream a reality.

 In Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s I Have a Dream Speech in Translation: What It Really Means (Fact Finders Kids' Translations), Leslie J. Holland presents the speech  with  clear, everyday-language "translations",  along with additional background information that will also translate the historic context.


 For older students and adults interested in a more comprehensive study of King's  speech, along with other writings, I recommend I Have a Dream: Writings and Speeches That Changed the World, Special 75th Anniversary Edition (Martin Luther King, Jr., born January 15, 1929) 

And finally, in addition to learning about  King's speech, there is value in studying the man himself---his words, his leadership, his activism, his call to justice and peace, his demand for a new nation.   One excellent place to begin is Martin's Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by Doreen Rappaport and illustrated by Bryan Collier. Woven through biographical information are words from his speeches. 

In My Brother Martin: A Sister Remembers Growing Up with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., King's sister, Christine King Farris, offers  a portrait of her brother from her privileged familiar perspective as sister. From her unique position, we gain a closer look at this famous man.  

And, of course, Andrea Pinkney includes Martin Luther King Jr. in Hand in Hand: Ten Black Men Who Changed America. 

Martin Luther King Jr., indeed, changed America.  

He offered us a new dream, a new way to exist together in our nation.

He calls us still... to be better than we are.

He had a dream.

We, too,  have a dream.

Remember   

Today's Deeper Writing Opportunities

Read  or listen to Martin Luther King's I Have a Dream Speech. Click here to read the entire speech.
Click here to listen to the speech.

What did it mean in 1963? What does it mean to you now?
What parts of this dream have come true?
What elements in King's vision are not yet realized?
What is your role in making this dream a reality?

Write a reflection on this famous speech.

Yu may also want to write a new dream speech that Martin Luther King Jr. might deliver today were he alive.