Martin Luther King Jr. Day classroom resources

Lesson Plan

Jan. 19, 2026, 6:53 a.m.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day classroom resources

Each year, the United States sets aside the third Monday in January to remember the life and work of legendary civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

King's life ended abruptly when he was assassinated in 1968, but he left behind a generation of leaders who continued fighting for equal rights. Today, many people spend Martin Luther King Jr. Day volunteering in their communities and reflecting on the things King stood for.

Use the following News Hour Classroom resources to examine King's impact on civil rights and his ongoing legacy. The video below contains an excerpt of King's 1964 Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech.

Lesson Plans

The March on Washington and its impact

Black American civil rights leader Martin Luther King (1929 - 1968) addresses crowds during the March On Washington at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington DC, where he gave his 'I Have A Dream' speech. (Photo by Central Press/Getty Images)

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s 'I Have a Dream' speech as a work of literature

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s 'I Have a Dream' speech as visual text

Music and speeches at the March on Washington

MLK Jr.'s "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" and the Capitol Hill riot

American Baptist minister and civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr (1929 - 1968, seated, centre-right) gives a press conference regarding an agreement reached on a 'limited desegregation plan' outside the A.G. Gaston Motel in Birmingham, Alabama, February 1963. Standing behind Luther King is his speechwriter Clarence B. Jones. (Photo by Ernst Haas/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

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