Nobel Prize Lessons – Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights movement

Martin Luther King Jr. marches with other religious leaders and activists past Browns Chapel in Selma, Alabama, during the second attempted march to Montgomery. (Photo by © Flip Schulke/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)

This is a step-by-step timetable for a Nobel Prize Lesson – a complete lesson package about Martin Luther King Jr. The lesson package consists of four a slide show with a speaker’s manuscript for the teacher, six short videos, and a concluding assignment. 

Time required
The entire lesson package takes about three 45-minute class hours to complete. Each video is about 4 minutes long. Here is a suggestion for how you can organise this task:

  • Lesson 1: Warm-up, Videos 1 and 2
  • Lesson 2: Videos 3, 4 and 5
  • Lesson 3: Video 6 and concluding assignment

YouTube video playlist.

1. Warm-up
Show a photo of Martin Luther King Jr. (preferably the first photo in the slide show). Let your students discuss for a few minutes in groups what they know about King. Follow up in the class as a whole.

2. Present the slide show and screen the videos
Present the slide show with the help of the speaker’s manuscript. After each video, your students should be given a few minutes to discuss the issues.

Slide show (pdf)
Speaker’s manuscript (pdf)

3. Concluding assignment
Conclude by showing your students the excerpt from Martin Luther King’s Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech. Then divide the class into small groups. Give a student worksheet to each group. The assignment is for each group, inspired by King’s Nobel Prize acceptance speech, to write its own short speech and present it to the rest of the class.

Student worksheet (pdf)

 

A Swedish version of this lesson can be found on the Nobel Prize Museum’s website.

To cite this section
MLA style: Nobel Prize Lessons – Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights movement. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Prize Outreach AB 2024. Wed. 27 Mar 2024. <https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel-prize-lessons-theme-martin-luther-king-jr-and-the-civil-rights-movement/>

Nobel Prizes and laureates

Eleven laureates were awarded a Nobel Prize in 2023, for achievements that have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind. Their work and discoveries range from effective mRNA vaccines and attosecond physics to fighting against the oppression of women.

See them all presented here.
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