MLK Day Assembly
Martin Luther King Jr. Day takes place every third Monday of January. The holiday celebrates a man who stood up against the beliefs of racial inferiority, injustice against minorities, and segregation in America.
When Dr. King was young, he lost his white childhood friend because of them going to different schools that were based on skin color and the fact that young Dr. King’s friend’s dad did not want his son to hang out with young Dr. King. This is when Martin Luther King Jr. met with his parents and that is when he learned about the race problem in America.
In the middle of the 20th century, minorities in America were still not being treated equally. There was a culture of forced segregation between whites and blacks, especially in the southern, U.S. In the south, in schools, restaurants, and other public areas, the two races did not mix at all. For public buses, African Americans were required to sit in the back or to give up their seats to white passengers. There were hate groups like the Ku Klux Klan which were very violent and also acts of police brutality toward the African American community. However, in 1954, there was a landmark ruling by the Supreme Court called Brown vs. Board of Education, which stated that separate schools for black children were inherently unequal. As a result, a growing group of Americans spoke out against inequality and injustice. This push to change the status quo led to a lot of civil unrest.
Dr. King was a Christian minister and an activist. He was married to Coretta Scott King and together they had 4 children. During the thirteen years of Dr. King’s leadership of the civil rights movement, he made progress toward equality for African Americans and other minorities, too. Many believe that he made more progress for African Americans achieving equality in those thirteen years than the 350 years prior. He did not believe in violence to promote change. Instead, he believed in peaceful protests, grassroots organizing (quickly organizing events to change a law), and civil disobedience. An example of this civil disobedience was called sit-ins which were when they loitered in white-only restaurants waiting to be served food. He also led campaigns against poverty, believed that everyone is equal, and against war around the world. Dr. King was an excellent speaker and gave powerful speeches such as “I have a dream” which he improvised, and wrote famous letters such as “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”. In the end, his movement led to much greater equality and eliminated legalized segregation. Dr. King was the youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize at age 35. While his life ended at the age of 39 as a result of an assassin, his legacy lives on in the national holidays, streets, parks, and an incredible Civil Rights Museum in Memphis Tennessee, at the very motel where he lost his life so tragically.
We as a school celebrate this national holiday by having an assembly about the famous things he said, his work, and other students' experiences with racism. Celebrating this topic helps students be comfortable with sharing past incidents because they know that they aren’t the only ones who fell victim to this unfortunate topic. Also, sharing famous quotes by him is another way of honoring him besides sharing his work. Still celebrating Dr. King in Browning will teach kids to respect people regardless of their identity. This is why we as a school celebrate and honor Dr. King.
