Do you believe that words can inspire change? Is it possible for a person to influence outcomes using only what he/she says? Do words hold power? Can you think of a time when you were influenced by what someone said?
Activity: Read "1963: The Year that Changed Everything"
What is your initial reaction to what you read? How does it make you feel? What would it have felt like to live during these incidents? How do you believe you would have acted?
Summative Activity
For this summative activity, you will choose one speech to read and analyze. Then you will create your own speech, advocating for something you believe in!
Step 1: Pick a Speech!
Click on the tabs below to listen to the speech that interests you the most.
Martin Luther King Jr. wrote this moving letter on April 16, 1963, while in prison for defying a state court order against demonstrating. He was responding to white clergy who had published a statement in the Birmingham News, criticizing King and other civil rights activists for their impatience.
In his speech the President responds to the threats of violence and obstruction on the University of Alabama campus following desegregation attempts, explaining that the United States was founded on the principle that all men are created equal and thus, all American students are entitled to attend public educational institutions, regardless of race. He also discusses how discrimination affects education, public safety, and international relations, noting that the country cannot preach freedom internationally while ignoring it domestically.
I Have a Dream" is a public speech that was delivered by American civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28, 1963, in which he called for civil and economic rights and an end to racism in the United States. Delivered to over 250,000 civil rights supporters from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., the speech was a defining moment of the civil rights movement and among the most iconic speeches in American history.
President Johnson's speech, titled “The American Promise,” made it clear that all Americans, regardless of race, deserved the rights enumerated in the U.S. Constitution. Like Kennedy before him, Johnson explained that the deprivation of voting rights was a moral issue.
Step 2: Reflection
Use the Google Form below to discuss your thoughts and feelings about the speech you listened to/watched.