Following the first, second and third of four blogs in this series, I introduced our 4th/5th grade expedition, “Making Hope and History Rhyme: Words That Will Echo Forevermore,” which we hope you will read to gain a comprehensive view of the expedition unit.

Case Study #4: Martin’s Big Words

Throughout the year, we made connections to Dr. Martin Luther King’s many different messages. While studying the Revolution, we read how he connected the Civil Rights Movement to the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and Paul Revere’s Midnight Ride, as he said, “we still need some Paul Revere of conscience to alert every hamlet and every village of America that revolution is still at hand.” On the Declaration, Dr. King exclaimed:

“Our nation signed a huge promissory note, ‘we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.’ Oh, what a marvelous creed. Just think about what it says. It didn't say some men; it said all men. It didn’t say white men; it said all men, which includes Black men. It didn’t say all Gentiles; it said all men, which includes Jews. It didn’t say all Protestants, it said all men, which includes Catholics…  And then it said something else. That every man has certain basic rights that are neither derived from nor conferred by the state… They are God given.” How can we not reference these passages when learning about April 18th, 1775 and later, the signing of the Declaration of Independence? 

As discussed in the first blog post, we compared Dr. King’s messages to the themes of Phillis Wheatley’s poems, that “Black is beautiful,” and a good education requires intelligence plus character. While reading Frederick Douglass’ story, we read and watched Dr. King’s speech, “What is in your Life’s Blueprint?” Douglass’ ambition and unwavering commitment to the Abolitionist cause embodies what Dr. King outlines in this speech: “a deep belief in your own dignity,” “a determination to achieve excellence,” and “a commitment to the eternal principles of beauty, love, and justice.” Similar to the speeches of Sojourner Truth and Frederick Douglass, Dr. King’s mastery of oration lies in his poetic style. So, in addition to analyzing the message of the speech, a major focus was dissecting its elements of poetry. 

 As discussed in the third blog post, we compared Dr. King’s message to Langston Hughes’ poetry on freedom and the promise of America. Both Hughes and Dr. King demand that we cannot wait. Freedom must be demanded. Dr. King reveals to us a fierce commitment to love, selflessness, justice, pacifism, and an urgent need to speak and act on what is right. 

When it came time for our Dr. King unit, we worked fluidly because the children had a firm grasp on key concepts from prior knowledge. Now we needed to make the ideas more concrete and intentionally connect the themes. Similar to earlier case studies, we began with a gallery walk which contained excerpts of speeches, pictures and videos of Dr. King in action.

After our introduction, we read Martin’s Big Words by Doreen Rappaport. This book is not a poem or a speech, which had been the entire focus of our expedition this far, but, the title says it all. Martin’s Big Words. The title embodies precisely what we’ve been going for all year: the power of words and their ability to move mountains. The art in this book invokes similar emotions. Martin’s Big Words highlights the Montgomery Bus Boycott. However, with the magnitude of The Civil Rights Movement paired with time ticking down, I chose to streamline the focus on King’s speeches, specifically, their themes and elements of poetry. Yes, in the ideal classroom, we would have time to study the people, the cities, the causes in Montgomery, Birmingham, Selma, Atlanta, Albany, and Memphis and give that the proper respect and time the people deserve; to honor their work and legacy. But, with a winter riddled with the Omicron strand of COVID-19, we didn’t have the time. With these factors out of our control, I chose to tighten our focus on the words of Dr. King and how they intertwined with previous units. 

Martin's Big Words by Doreen Rappaport, Illustrated by Bryan Collier

This unit coincided with the Easter Season, so Dr. King's work guided our Good Friday celebration. We returned to “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.” Why? Because Dr. King, Ralph Abernathy, and the people of Birmingham chose April 12th, 1963, Good Friday, as the day to march and voluntarily be arrested by Bull Connor. In addition to highlighting the important role the masses played in the Civil Rights Movement, focusing on the Good Friday Parade was twofold. One, to highlight the power of friendship between Dr. King and Ralph Abernathy (what are we without our friends?) Two, to highlight the intentionality of faith in action. After our Birmingham lesson for the day, we ate donuts and grape juice(to symbolize the bread and wine). We then went to The Roost, our school’s gym, and filled our backpacks with weights (we all agreed to try this safely) as symbolic of Jesus taking the Cross, and paraded around the school’s neighborhood together. Our walk was an exercise, physically, spiritually, and cognitively, in the weight Jesus carries for us, reliance on friends to endure challenges together, and a commemoration of the selflessness and courage of doers of the Word who made our country a more just place to live. 

Lastly, we studied excerpts from Dr. King’s “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop Speech.” We focused on this speech as it connects to the Constitution, and The Parable of the Good Samaritan, which calls us to practice prophetic action and unconditional love. Dr. King exclaims “All we say to America is be true to what you said on paper,” and “somewhere I read of the freedom of assembly. Somewhere I read of the freedom of speech. Somewhere I read of the freedom of the press. Somewhere I read of the greatness of America is the right to protest for right.” We see Dr. King called on the Bill of Rights, a breathing document, to defend the rights of the Memphis sanitation workers. We learned this document is a tool for the people to pull from in dire need. I enjoy both reading and listening to this speech with the children because something in them sparks when they realize they know what he is alluding to when he says “somewhere I read…” 

Just as he breathes new life into the Bill of Rights in referencing it in regards to the Memphis Sanitation Strike, Dr. King also breathes new life into the radical, “dangerous” selflessness of Jesus’ Parable, The Good Samaritan. Dr. King utilizes poetic language to paint a powerful picture of where and why Jesus set the scene on The Jericho Road. Furthermore, using poetic language, Dr. King invokes a deep sense of wonder, awe, and reflection. We are called to be the good neighbor, as the Good Samaritan was, “the man of another race” who “projected the ‘I’ into ‘thou’” and was concerned for his brother. We are called to ask ourselves “If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?” This question was a guiding principle of praxis 2,000 years ago. This question was a guiding principle of The Memphis Sanitation Strike in 1968. And it is, I pray, a guiding principle for ourselves and the children we teach today.So, where do we go from here? We invite the children to ponder what this question looks like in action. What are we called to do after reflecting on this question: If I do not stop to help this person, what will happen to them? 

The Good Samaritan and The Memphis Sanitation Strike

Matthew 25 and The New Colossus by Emma Lazarus 

In his concluding thoughts on The Good Samaritan, Dr. King cried out “let us move on in these powerful days, these days of challenge to make America what it ought to be. We have an opportunity to make America a better nation.” Emma Lazarus’ “The New Colossus” also tells us what America ought to be. Our community ought to be a place where all are welcome, particularly the hungry, the poor, tempest-tost, exiled, and tired. All are welcome here that yearn to be free. Just as Jesus demands that we care for the hungry, the homeless, the thirsty, the imprisoned, the sick, the stranger: The U.S. can be and OUGHT to be the Mother of Exiles. A call to action to and with the marginalized: This is Jesus’ decree in The Good Samaritan and The Last Judgment. As a class, we compared this poem, found on the Statue of Liberty, to this Gospel reading.  

“The New Colossus” and The Last Judgment

The themes of this poem and Gospel passage, and Dr King’s question, led our class to putting our heads together and seeing what we can do. We organized a clothing drive by creating flyers and delivering speeches around the school to help with our project. We also attempted a “dining” service. 

For context, each morning, the students come into their classes and eat breakfast. Throughout Lent, we committed ourselves to serve breakfast to the younger classes. (This idea was also inspired by Father Greg Boyle’s Homegirl Cafe and Homeboy Bakery.) 

Dr. King’s “I’ve Been to The Mountaintop” and Emma Lazarus’ “The New Colossus” are examples of how a speech and poem can awaken in us a selfless way of thinking and living. The speech and poem invoke a spirituality of service and love, and invite us to think deeper on what it looks like to live by the question “If I do not stop to help this person, what will happen to them?

During the clothing drive, I don’t think I’ve ever had more fun in and out of the classroom. I don’t think I’ve ever been more proud of a group of kids. These were moments where I was knocked off my feet and incredibly grateful for what the kids made happen.