Resources for Martin Luther King, Jr., Day and African-American History 2017

The following is a list of several web sites that contain resources to assist teachers who would like to present a unit of study in anticipation of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. This resource list will also assist educators looking for resources for the African-American history course and for incorporating the accomplishments and contributions of African Americans to United States and Arkansas history. The resources contain numerous free materials, such as lesson plans, activities, printable materials, primary source documents, and video documentaries.

The King Center( is the non-profit organization that educates the world about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s philosophy of non-violence.

A Celebration of the Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on Apples 4 theTeacher ( site contains Dr.Martin Luther King, Jr. Day printables and worksheets, a Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day unit of study, online activities, and many resources, including games and trivia for use in developing lessons during Black History month.

42eXplore ( numerous resources on MLK, Jr., including websites and projects for various grades and ability levels and links to activities and resources.

teAchnology contains a teacher guide, free lesson plans, and printable worksheetson Martin Luther King Jr. at and a link to resources that can be used for units of study during Black History month at

The Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute( has built upon the achievements of Stanford University’s Martin Luther King, Jr., Papers Project with a website that includes classroom resources and lesson plans based on King documents, as well as a helpful “Teaching King” bibliography.

History by Topic, at History.com ( has many resources available for classroom use, including numerous videos and audios,such as Robert Kennedy’s announcement of the assassination of Dr. King and Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech.

Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society, Inc. ( contains numerous resources, publications, and projects, including the following recent projects: The Black Cemeteries Uncovered Project, Connecting The Past, and the African-American Funeral Homes Project.

African-American Odyssey( showcases the African- American collections of the Library of Congress.

African-American SheetMusic, 1850-1920( contains 1,300 pieces of sheet music, including songs from antebellum blackface minstrels, the abolitionist movement, the novel Uncle Tom's Cabin, African-American soldiers in the Civil War, emancipated slaves, Reconstruction, and the northern migration of African Americans.

Bornin Slavery: Slave Narratives fromthe Federal Writers' Project( is a Library of Congress collectioncontaining 2,300 first-person accounts of slavery and 500 photographs of former slaves.

Breaking RacialBarriers:AfricanAmericans in the Harmon Foundation Collection( is presented by the Smithsonian Institute on their educational Encyclopedia Smithsonian website. This site contains many of the Harmon Foundation’s portraits of “Outstanding Americans of Negro Origin”, including portraits created by Laura Wheeler Waring (1887-1948) and Betsy Graves Reyneau (1888-1964).

The Crossroadsto Freedom website contains primary source documents and oral histories of the Civil Rights era in Memphis. The site also contains documents from the Hill Foundation pertaining to the desegregation of the Hoxie School District in eastern Arkansas.

Encyclopedia Smithsonian( contains a host of resources under the broader categories of African Art, Africa-History and Culture, and African American History and Culture.

First Person Narratives of the American South, 1860-1920( documents the culture of the South in the 19th century from the viewpoint of Southerners. It includes diaries, autobiographies, memoirs, ex-slave narratives, and travel accounts of women, African Americans, enlisted men, Native Americans, laborers, and prominent individuals.

From Slavery to Civil Rights: A Timeline of African American History( on the Library of Congress website contains photos, broadsides, maps, and other items organized around time periods: slavery, abolition, antebellum, Civil War, reconstruction, progressive era, World War I, between the wars, World War II, and civil rights.

Race andPlace: An African American Community in the Jim Crow South( recreates the African-American community in Charlottesville, Virginia, during the start of this century. Narratives provide historical analysis as well as archival content, including news clippings from the "Only Negro Weekly," and hundreds of photos of African Americans in the early 20th century, and more.

African-American history lesson plans can be accessed from the Library of Congress ( website. Titles include African American Identity in the Gilded Age: Two Unreconciled Strivings; After Reconstruction; Baseball, Race Relations and Jackie Robinson; Segregation: From Jim Crow to Linda Brown; and Slavery in the United States: Primary Sources and the Historical Record.

Reconstruction: The SecondCivil War( provides clips from the PBS documentary, as well as transcripts, a look behind the scenes, and a teacher's guide. A few of the featured topics are: 40 Acres and a Mule, Plantations in Ruins, African American Legislators, Northerners in the South, and Slave to Sharecropper.)

Separate is Not Equal: Brown v. Board of Education( is presented by the Smithsonian Institute on their educational Encyclopedia Smithsonian website.

The Church in the Southern Black Community, Beginnings to 1920( traces how Southern African Americans experienced Protestant Christianity and transformed it into the central institution of community life.

The Frederick Douglass Papers( at the Library of Congress contains the papers of the 19th-century African-American abolitionist who escaped from slavery and then risked his own freedom by becoming an outspoken anti-slavery lecturer, writer, and publisher. The Douglass Papers contain items that span the years 1841 to 1964 and relate to Douglass' life as an escaped slave, abolitionist, editor, orator, and public servant.

Two American Entrepreneurs: Madam C.J. Walker and J.C. Penney, ( provided by the National Park Service, features the life stories of two business people who lived the American dream and who helped make that dream a reality for others in their communities. It tells how Walker, an African-American woman, and Penney, a former tuberculosis patient, built from scratch their multi-million and billion dollar businesses.

We Shall Overcome: Historic Places of the Civil Rights Movement ( by the National Park Service, includes a link to information about Little Rock Central High School.

Women and Social Movements in the United States, 1830-1930( introduces students to primary documents related to women and social movements in the U.S. between 1830 and 1930, including letters and newspaper articles on the role of African-American women in the passage of the women’s suffrage amendment (Amendment 19).