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Lessons for Black History Month

Lesson Guide


Ask your students to read Dr. King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.”

Discussion Questions

Interesting Facts
• Many influential African-Americans have worked to help animals. Click here to learn more.
• A nationwide Zogby poll found that 62 percent of African-Americans supported laws to protect farmed animals from cruelty.
• Dr. Martin Luther King’s widow, Coretta Scott King, is a vegetarian, and his son, Dexter Scott King, eats an animal-friendly vegan diet.
After your students have read the letter, ask them the following questions:
    • According to Dr. King, nonviolent actions have four stages. What are they?
    (Answer: Collection of the facts to determine whether injustices exist, negotiation, self-purification, and direct action)
    • Do you agree with Dr. King when he says that any law that “degrades human personality” is unjust? Do you agree with how he differentiates between just and unjust laws? Why or why not?
    • Thanks to the hard work of many African-Americans, the animal rights movement has become one of the largest social justice movements of our time. Should we expand Dr. King’s definition of unjust laws to include those who degrade animal personalities, too? Why or why not?
    • Many civil rights proponents did not fight back when they were arrested or beaten by police and segregationists. How does this make you feel? In what ways were the demonstrators courageous? Would you be able to endure such punishment without retaliation in order to help others? Do you think that these activists are heroes?

The rest of this lesson plan will help students practice citizenship skills like those used by members of the civil rights movement. Click here to continue the lesson.
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