Black History Month Unit: "In Their Own Words" - Civil Rights Leaders

An engaging, Common-Core-based unit perfect for Black History Month (or for a civil-rights themed unit any other time of the year) comparing Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X including two media presentations, daily lesson plans, and over 25 pages of printable materials.

It's amazing how similar the lives of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X were. Both were religious leaders, both made pilgrimages to help them in their fight for civil rights--one to Mecca and the other to the birthplace of Ghandi--both were hugely influential during the civil rights movement of the 50s and 60s, and both were assassinated within a few years of one another. Yet their personalities were very different. In "In Their Own Words," students work in groups to make character inferences based on quotations from Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X. Each student in the group has a clearly defined role assignment, so everyone will be actively engaged in the activity. After the group activity, students will build on the inferences they made with their groups by writing either a research essay about one of the two leaders or a comparison essay about similarities and differences between the two men.

This download includes...
* Full daily lesson plans for the entire unit (everything is ready to go right out of the box!)
* A 52-slide PREZI media presentation that introduces the activity and gives background information about King, Jr. and Malcolm X
* Printable handouts of quotations from both civil rights leaders
* An overhead of Group Roles
* A Scribe worksheet
* Complete materials for two different types of essays (a research essay and a compare-contrast essay), including pre-writing materials, MLA documentation instructions, and grading rubrics
* A compare and contrast graphic organizer
* A graphic organizer for keeping track of pros and cons of King's and X's different strategies for encouraging social change
* An additional PREZI that compares Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X through 10 YouTube videos showing the two men giving speeches or speaking in interviews
* A full teacher's guide
The full unit should take between two and three weeks of class time; or you could only spend a few days of class time and ONLY do the PREZI lesson activities (which work great as stand-alone lessons.)

The unit files will come in well-designed, ready-to-use PDF files. And remember that you need Flash Player installed to view the PREZI presentation.

For more ideas on teaching about Martin Luther King, Black History, or the Civil Rights Movement, check out my "Dissecting the Dream" lesson for analyzing King's most well-known speech.

Enjoy!

Created by Arik Durfee