Subject Areas |
Art and Culture
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Philosophy |
History and Social Studies
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U.S. History - African-American |
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U.S. History - Civil Rights |
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World History - Human Rights |
Literature and Language Arts
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American |
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Essay |
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Time Required |
| One to two class periods |
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Skills |
| information gathering and analysis
critical thinking
interpretation
public speaking and presentation
Internet skills
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Date Posted |
| 4/15/2002 |
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Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Power of Nonviolence
Introduction
This lesson introduces students to Martin Luther King, Jr.'s philosophy of nonviolence
and the teachings of Mohandas K. Gandhi that influenced King's views. After considering
the political impact of this philosophy, students explore its relevance to personal
life.
Learning Objectives
(1) To examine the philosophy of nonviolence developed by Martin Luther King,
Jr. (2) To consider how this philosophy translated into practice during the Civil
Rights Movement. (3) To explore the relationship between King's teachings on nonviolence
and those of Mohandas K. Gandhi. (4) To reflect on the relevance of nonviolence
to one's personal conduct in everyday life.
Guiding Question: What was Martin Luther King, Jr.'s philosophy of nonviolence
and can we follow his example today?
1 Set the stage
for this lesson by having students read a brief selection of Dr. Martin Luther
King, Jr.'s writings on nonviolence, available through EDSITEment at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers Project
website: -
Nonviolence and Racial Justice
(http://www.stanford.edu/group/King/papers/vol4/570206.004-
Nonviolence_and_Racial_Justice.htm) This 1957 article, based on King's experience
during the Montgomery bus boycott, includes a review of race relations in the
United States (paragraphs 1-7) and a concise summary of King's views on nonviolence
(paragraphs 8-16). -
Letter from Birmingham Jail (Download
Adobe Acrobat Reader to read document)
(http://www.stanford.edu/group/King/frequentdocs/birmingham.pdf)
King wrote this famous article in 1963 while imprisoned for leading a nonviolent
campaign against segregation in Birmingham, Alabama. He explains and defends his
tactics in paragraphs 5-29. - As an aid
to discussion, you might also provide students with " A Glossary of Nonviolence
" (http://www.thekingcenter.org/prog/non/glossary.html), prepared by the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent
Social Change . See in particular the definitions for "Six Principles of Nonviolence"
and "Six Steps of Nonviolent Social Change." (The Center's website is accessible
through the " Links " section
of the Martin Luther King, Jr.
Papers Project website on EDSITEment.)
2 Begin your
class discussion by looking at photographs of nonviolent protest during the civil
rights era. Ask students to compare the practice of nonviolence, shown in the
photographs, with the philosophy King outlines. To what extent do such images
illustrate the concept of nonviolence as King explains it? Are there aspects of
his philosophy that cannot be captured in a photograph? (For example, motive,
moral commitment, historical context.) By the same token, do such photographs
reveal any aspects of nonviolent action that King's philosophy overlooks? (For
example, physical danger, explosive emotion, violence.) Images available through
EDSITEment include: -
Lunch Counter Sit-In
http://www.civilrightsmuseum.org/gallery/studentsitins.asp
Part of an interactive tour of civil rights history at the National Civil Rights Museum website,
which is accessible through the " Links " section
of the Martin Luther King, Jr.
Papers Project website, this image shows opponents of integration pouring
sugar and ketchup on demonstrators protesting the exclusion of blacks from a drugstore
lunch counter. -
March on Washington, 1963
(http://media.nara.gov/media/images/27/4/27-0309a.gif)
The Digital Classroom
website on EDSITEment provides access to more than eighty images of the mass demonstration
where Martin Luther King, Jr., delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech, including
this image of demonstrators marching peacefully with picket signs.
3 Follow your
comparison of nonviolence in theory and practice with a class discussion of King's
writings. Focus on the moral framework of King's thought and the dynamic element
within nonviolence that led King to describe it as "soul force." Ask students:
- How does King characterize the choice between
violence and nonviolence in the struggle for freedom? What does he predict violence
will lead to? What does he promise nonviolence will lead to? Looking back, was
he a reliable forecaster?
- How does nonviolence
work? What are the stages of the process, as King describes it? What role does
"tension" play in this process? To what extent is violence part of the process?
How does public awareness contribute to making nonviolence a success? Would it
work in a society without freedom of speech and freedom of the press?
-
What kind of person takes part in nonviolent action, according
to Dr. King? To what extent are they fighters? To what extent peacemakers? What
part do politics and religion play in their thinking? What part do hatred and
love play in their decision to act? Can you see yourself joining in a nonviolent
protest?
4 In his writings on nonviolence, Dr.
King frequently acknowledged the influence of Mohandas K. Gandhi, who led nonviolent
campaigns against racial discrimination in South Africa and later against British
colonial rule in India. Introduce students to this important social activist and
compare his concept of nonviolent action -- satyagraha ( sah -yah- grah-hah
) -- with King's. - For background on
Gandhi, visit the Ministry of External
Affairs of the Government of India website, accessible through the SARAI (South
Asia Resource Access on the Internet) website on EDSITEment. The "
Mahatma Gandhi: A Retrospective " exhibit on this site includes a " Chronological Sketch ,"
a two-part history of Gandhi's " Life and Times ," a "
Photo Gallery ," and selections from his writings.
-
Have students review the selection of Gandhi's statements on " Satyagraha ," focusing
on these two short passages:
In the application of Satyagraha, I discovered,
in the earliest stages, that pursuit of Truth did not admit of violence being
inflicted on one's opponent, but that he must be weaned from error by patience
and sympathy. For what appears to be truth to one may appear to be error to the
other. And patience means self-suffering. So the doctrine came to mean vindication
of Truth, not by infliction of suffering on the opponent but one's own self.
Satyagraha and its off-shoots, non-cooperation and civil resistance, are nothing
but new names for the law of suffering. . . . The movement of nonviolent
non-cooperation has nothing in common with the historical struggles for freedom
in the West. It is not based on brute force or hatred. It does not aim at destroying
the tyrant. It is a movement of self-purification. It therefore seeks to convert
the tyrant.... The essence of nonviolent technique is that it seeks to liquidate
antagonisms but not the antagonists themselves. In nonviolent fight you have,
to a certain measure, to conform to the tradition and conventions of the system
you are pitted against. Avoidance of all relationship with the opposing power,
therefore, can never be a Satyagrahi's object but transformation or purification
of that relationship.
5 How do Gandhi's ideas compare to Dr.
King's? Where does King seem to follow Gandhi's teachings, and where does he differ?
Point out their agreement that nonviolence succeeds by transforming the relationship
between antagonists and that it's strength lies in the individual's commitment
to truth and justice. Yet Gandhi seems to emphasize a need for personal suffering
in the practice of nonviolence, a posture that is somewhat less militant than
King's call to self-sacrifice. And there is a similar difference between Gandhi's
belief that nonviolence achieves its goals through patience and non-cooperation
and King's belief that it takes "creative tension" and a degree of confrontation
to accomplish change. Remind students as you explore these two philosophies that
your aim is not to decide who is right and who is wrong. Both Gandhi and King
proved their ideas in practice by leading nonviolent social revolutions that shattered
the law of oppression in their countries. While admiring them both, however, one
can still recognize that they offer two approaches to the practice of nonviolence,
one rooted in opposition, the other in protest.
6 Conclude this
lesson by asking students to consider how nonviolence might be relevant to their
own lives. To what degree can we practice this philosophy of social change at
a personal level? Explore this question by staging a "talk show" in class. Have
two students play Gandhi and King as the day's guests, and take the role of talk
show host yourself. You might focus your discussion on violence in school, antagonism
between groups of students, or interpersonal conflict. Have students in the "audience"
describe situations in their lives that illustrate these issues, and have your
"guests" offer practical suggestions for handling them. How do ideas like non-cooperation
and creative tension, suffering and self-sacrifice translate into everyday actions?
Follow-up this discussion by having students write a short essay on the philosophy
of nonviolence and what we can learn from it today.
Extending the Lesson
As a companion to Gandhi and King, have students investigate the career of Nelson
Mandela, who led the fight against apartheid in South Africa and finally emerged
from more than a quarter century in prison to become the president of his country.
Excerpts from Mandela's autobiography, Long
Walk to Freedom (http://www.obs-us.com:80/obs/english/books/Mandela/ Mandela.html)
are accessible through the African Studies WWW
website on EDSITEment, which also provides a link to the African National Conference Home Page (http://www.anc.org.za/)
where you can access an Archive of historical documents on the struggle against
apartheid and a Mandela Page (http://www.anc.org.za/people/mandela/)
which offers further background and a selection of his writings. Nonviolence was
at the foundation of Mandela's political philosophy, but in the course of his
career he came to accept the necessity of armed resistance. You might explore
the interaction between these tendencies in Mandela's thinking, and consider what
his eventual triumph, through a nonviolent transformation of government, suggests
about the power of ideas.
Standards Alignment
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