ENGLISH - 8th Grade (To Kill A Mockingbird): Civil Rights Leaders

MLK was a Baptist minister and civil rights activist who had an enormous impact on race relations in the United States. Through his activism, he played a key role in ending the segregation of African-American citizens in the South and the creation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, ultimately receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. King was assassinated in April 1968 but continues to be remembered as one of the greatest African-American leaders in history.

Martin Luther King, Jr., Jackson, Mississippi, 1963

MLK, Jackson, Mississippi, 1963. Photograph. Britannica ImageQuest, Encyclopædia Britannica, 28 May 2021.
quest.eb.com/search/323_4106588/1/323_4106588/cite. Accessed 20 Oct 2022.

Civil Rights Leaders: Martin Luther King Jr.

Famous Speeches: Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream"

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Encyclopedia of World Biography Online, Gale, 1998

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Historic World Leaders, edited by Anne Commire, Gale, 1994

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Contemporary Heroes and Heroines, vol. 1, Gale, 1990

Martin Luther King Jr.

“King, Martin Luther, Jr.” Shapers of Society Online, Lincoln Library Press, 2018. FactCite, https://www.factcite.com/shapers/8010057.html. Accessed 20 Oct. 2022.

Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968)

Harris, Laurie Lanzen. “Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968).” Defining Moments Online, Lincoln Library Press, 2014. FactCite, https://www.factcite.com/definingmoments/30286.html. Accessed 20 Oct. 2022.

Hundreds of photos available here

Malcolm X was a political activist who is most well known for his work as a leader during the civil rights movement in America. His actions and beliefs were rooted in the violence his family faced from the Klu Klux Klan during his childhood. He famously preached defending oneself "by any means necessary," thus sparking what many considered to be a radicalized, potentially violent version of the civil rights movement. In contrast to Martin Luther King Jr's ambition of an America where black and white people lived together - Malcolm didn't believe in that vision and wanted a separate nation just for black people. On February 21, 1965, as he began a speech in New York City, he was shot and killed.

Civil Rights Leaders: Malcolm X

Malcolm X

 Encyclopædia Britannica, 4 Sep. 2020.

Malcolm X (1925-1965)

Harris, Laurie Lanzen. “Malcolm X (1925-1965).” Defining Moments Online, Lincoln Library Press, 2014. FactCite, https://www.factcite.com/definingmoments/30289.html. Accessed 20 Oct. 2022.

Malcolm X

Harris, Laurie Lanzen. “Malcolm X.” Biography for Beginners Online, Lincoln Library Press, 2022. FactCite, https://www.factcite.com/biobegin/10016.html. Accessed 20 Oct. 2022.

Malcolm X

American Decades, edited by Judith S. Baughman, et al., Gale, 1998

Many photos found here

Rosa Parks, often referred to as "the mother of the civil rights movement," put a spotlight on racial injustice when she refused to give up her bus seat to a white man in Montgomery, Alabama on December 1, 1955. Her arrest and resulting conviction for violating segregation laws launched the Montgomery Bus Boycott, which was led by Dr. King and boasted 17,000 Black participants. The year-long boycott ended in December 1956 following a U.S. Supreme Court decision declaring Montgomery’s segregated seating unconstitutional. 

Civil Rights Activists: Rosa Parks

Correcting 5 myths about Rosa Parks and her stand 

on a Montgomery bus

Rosa Parks

Harris, Laurie Lanzen. “Parks, Rosa.” Biography for Beginners Online, Lincoln Library Press, 2015. FactCite, https://www.factcite.com/biobegin/10177.html. Accessed 20 Oct. 2022.

Rosa Parks

“Parks, Rosa.” U.S. and World Biography Online, edited by Timothy L. Gall and Karen Ellicott, Lincoln Library Press, 2017. FactCite, https://www.factcite.com/biographies/6000407.html. Accessed 20 Oct. 2022.

Rosa L. Parks

Encyclopædia Britannica, 5 Jan. 2021.

Rosa Parks

Notable Black American Women, Gale, 1992.

Hundreds of photos available here.