- Today on Extra Credit, we honor the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Stay tuned.

(bright upbeat music) Welcome to Extra Credit where we meet interesting people, explore new ideas and discover fun places together.

I'm your host, Brooke.

First up, let's head to 501 Auburn Avenue in Atlanta, Georgia, for the tour of the childhood home of Dr. King.

(upbeat music) - [Narrator] On behalf of our superintendent, Ms. Judy Forte, welcome to the Martin Luther King National Historical Park.

In accordance with guidance from the CDC and the recommendations from public health authorities, all buildings within the park are temporarily closed due to COVID 19.

Welcome to the birth home of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., 501 Auburn Avenue, Atlanta, Georgia.

The parlor.

Martin, A.D. and Christine would enter the parlor to take piano lessons.

However, Martin and A.D. disliked taking piano lessons.

So to discourage the teacher, they loosen the screws off of this very stool and took a hammer and hammer the piano.

The picture on the wall is his maternal grandparents, Reverend A.D. Williams and Mrs. Jenny Celeste Williams.

This is the coat and hat room, known as the foyer.

The Kings and the Williams would greet their guests in this room.

The photo on the wall was taken shortly after Christmas of the King and Williams family in 1939.

This is the game room, the office and once was the bedroom of Martin's grandparents Reverend A.D. Williams and Mrs. Jenny.

The family would gather in this room for family game night.

The photos in this room are of Reverend A.D. Williams and Ms. Jenny, Martin's grandparents.

The kids would also do their homework in this room.

Martin and his dad, Martin Luther King Senior, were considered the best players.

Monopoly was Dr. King's favorite game, and Chinese checkers was his dad.

The radio in the corner to the right, Martin would listen to his favorite show, which would be "The Green Hornet".

The dining room.

The family ate their meals in the dining room, and always on Sundays.

Everyone had to recite a Bible verse before they ate.

M.L., which is Martin Luther King, Jr, loved to eat and liked almost any kind of food.

He especially loved fried chicken, collard greens, black-eyed peas, corn bread and apple pie with ice cream.

In this very kitchen, Martin's mother, Alberta, and grandmother prepared all the family meal.

Martin, Christine, and A.D were all tasked with the chore of doing the dishes.

However, Martin disliked washing dishes and would hide in the bathroom every time it was his turn.

This is the bathroom and the bedroom of daddy King and Mrs. King.

All three of the King children were born in this very room.

Willie Christine Farris was the first to be born in 1927.

When she was born, her parents pulled out one of the drawers of the Schaeffer robe and feeder chest, and lined it with blankets and placed her in the drawer, because they had no crib or a bassinet.

Martin Luther King, Jr. was born January 15th, 1929 at 12 noon.

And Alfred Daniel, aka A.D., was born in 1930.

This is Martin and A.D.'s bedroom, or the boys room as it was called.

Martin and A.D. also shared this room with their dad's younger brother, their uncle Joel, who was not too far in age from the boys.

Christine, their sister, said Martin and A.D. were very messy and kept their room untidy.

The boys would only clean up if there were guests in the home.

(upbeat music) - Hi helpers, do you know that you can be change maker?

Change makers work to make the world a better place.

Every person can make change by standing up for what is right, like making rules fair for everyone, keeping our earth clean, and helping people in need.

Change makers can be activists, nonprofit workers, volunteers, and even kids.

Some of the change makers are; Martin Luther King, Jr. who helped make rules fair for people of all skin colors, Jane Goodall who helped protect chimpanzees, and Malala Yousafzai who helped girls around the world to go to school.

Kids can help make the world better too.

We are never too young to be tamed thinkers.

- [Announcer 1] To learn more about Meet The Helpers, visit, meetthehelpers.org.

- [Announcer 2] Meet The Helpers is made possible by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.

(upbeat music) (people chatting) - I had this idea of having a show.

Triptych featuring Crystal Starks with Terrell, Anglin and myself at the Irwin House Gallery.

- We're here at Irwin House Gallery, and we've continued to produce shows and programming, and just really try to work with and support as many Detroit local artists as we can.

And we had been speaking with Jonathan about doing a solo exhibition of his work, but he saw this as an opportunity not just for himself, but also bring in two other emerging artists.

- I met Crystal first cause she participated in a exhibit we had curated downtown.

Her work was special to me because it was sincere.

By painting your children in those powerful positions of kings and queens, it was special.

And people wanted to see more of it.

Terrell, his work is also sincere and it is different, and the world needs to see it.

- I think all art is inspiring, and you can get something that you love from each piece, from each artist, we're different.

But the energy that comes out of the artwork allows me to use that same energy into my pieces as well.

I'm a pyrography artist, so it's totally different.

And so I'm used to heat, and I use a blow torch.

And then I use acrylic paint to paint the background.

I actually had to do some research to kind of go with what I wanted to display.

So it took a lot of time, but I was patient about it.

Nelson Davis is Harriet Tubman's husband, her second husband.

And I thought to myself, what kind of guy you had to be to be married to an abolitionist, someone who led our people to freedom, you know?

So my piece is based on that.

This is a piece of my family.

This is my grandmother, she adopted me, so she was my abolition as well.

- My focus is just telling a story through my art.

My daughter is honestly the one who got me into, back to painting, 'cause I honestly gave up on art.

But a few years back, she had an incident at school where they basically said there's something about her skin tone, and I was hurt by it.

And then she got into this whole thing where she wanted to be lighter.

And I wanted to show her that she was beautiful.

So the reason she's in my work is because she inspired me to just show her like, "Hey, this is how I view you."

And I want her to just see that she's beautiful.

When people see it, they're just gonna take whatever they see.

They're going to see a kid sitting on a bench right now in a garden, but they're not gonna know the story behind it until they see the other pieces.

But still sometimes a story can be seen in different views.

You can get different points from it.

But as far as the artist is conveying exactly what it is, I think it's gonna be different for what people see.

- This is a triptych as well.

These are three pieces that work together and tell the story.

This is, to the far left, hear no evil, at the middle, see no evil, and the right, speak no evil.

It's basically just telling a story about how I feel in America.

These days, whereas there's so much of a negative influence everywhere.

And it can sometimes be difficult to navigate even your own life.

So that's why I had the stars and the red, white and blue in the back.

I want it to be beautiful but still engaging, and people to understand what's going on here.

That's a picture of my friend, Kira, the black and white painting.

That's actually oil enamel that I used on that.

And this is a drop painting.

The story behind that is breaking the chain.

It's a series I came up with the idea to express everyday people breaking the cycle that probably contaminated their family throughout the years.

- For this exhibition, I expect people are gonna be floored.

They're going to be moved by what these artists have been able to portray and express, and just the range of their talent, the stories that they're telling through their arts.

Not only personal stories, but personal but stories about Detroit life, and about black life in general.

- The Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of service known as a day on and not a day off, is celebrated by millions of people worldwide.

It is a day we honor Dr. King's commitment to justice by building bridges, creating solution to social problems and serving our communities.

Let's take a look at how a group of Detroit teams use their interest in technology to inspire the next generation of coders.

(soft upbeat music) - Today we're going to teach you guys how to use the PBS App at Scratch Junior.

- The I Can Achieve students have been working on Scratch Junior Coding Program where they're literally learning about the different elements of coding.

So they're going in and learning what it is to be a maker, learning what it means to tinker and to do the design engineering process.

The purpose of this is that we want your plane to fly further than your peers.

I've been a participant of the Ready to Learn Program with PBS for a few years now.

And I've really been waiting on an opportunity to kind of get my high school students involved.

Love it, good job, Robert.

(clapping) What I really love about PBS resources is that everything that they do is engaging and interactive.

- It's something new for me 'cause I never did something coding, and like putting stuff together, and now I really like it.

- So they get this piece of playing with the content, playing with the app, going through it, implementing their own projects.

But now you have to lead.

So the leadership piece is what's gonna be the real challenge.

Now you have to lead.

You have to be slow to get angry.

You have to communicate in a way that's effective.

- I'm used to like talking to somebody like my peers, and like somebody that's older than me, but teaching a younger person is different, it's gonna be a new experience.

(soft upbeat music) - Hi all, my is Chris (indistinct) - I'm Summer.

- And we're scholars from I Can Achieve Program.

- So we're high schoolers, and today we're going to teach you guys how to use the PBS App Scratch Junior.

- Press that green flag there.

- Drag it down there, yeah.

(boy laughs) - Look at it!

Look at it!

I'm making something in the lab.

- I'm so excited.

I'm just super proud of them.

I'm so happy that they have really risen to the challenge.

And they're in there just leading and guiding.

- Would you go right back to start creating area.

- I loved it, it was so much energy.

They were all excited and ready to just tell us about what they learned.

And I love meeting new different personalities, it was really different for me.

- It made me happy to see them (indistinct) - Robert Rivers, he is very soft-spoken and he's in there at a table with two kindergartners.

It's just exciting to see him, someone who usually is reserved, doesn't talk a lot, and he's in there, like helping them out, and helping them create little scenes on the tablet.

And so really seeing him step out of his comfort zone, 'cause that's something that he wouldn't normally do.

- I wanna thank you guys for this opportunity to be able to help these children and to learn something new ourselves with their app, 'cause it was new to us as well, and we had to learn how you use it, just like you talked (indistinct).

- Super excited that I was able to connect a partner with PBS on a project and such.

Even with Sratch Junior, the opportunity for our students to learn coding in a way that's fun and engaging.

Even though they may not know that these are the building blocks, the building blocks to writing and coding in technology, still may be interested in that as a career field, and now just even from something as simple as giving back through a service project, they have the opportunity to explore that.

So I've been waiting for this partnership.

It's been a long time coming, but we finally got to a point where you can have high school students really engage with our younger youth and it's amazing.

(upbeat music) - Hi, my name is Colin Edwards, and I'm a dance student at Central Michigan University.

And what I like to do in dance class is the grapevine.

First, let me show you.

We're gonna start with this leg.

We're gonna step out, take the other foot, bring it back, step out again and hit the floor.

That is the grapevine.

Let's do one more time.

Step out, take the other foot bring it back, step out again and hit the floor.

Good job.

Let's do one more time, but a little bit faster.

Are you ready?

Here we go.

Step back, step hit.

Step back, step hit.

Step back, step hit.

Step back, step hit.

Good job.

Let's do it again, but a little bit faster.

This time, let's feel free to move your arms and move with the music and making your own.

Are you ready?

Here we go.

5, 6, 7, 8.

Step back, step hit.

Step back, step hit.

Step back, step hit.

Step back, step hit.

Step, putu hit.

Step, putu hit.

Step back, step pit.

Step back, step hit.

Good job.

You did the grapevine.

Thanks for grapevining with me.

Bye.

(upbeat music) - Hi, my name is Taryn.

I'm a kid and I am a helper.

One of the best ways we could be helpers is by being kind and caring neighbors to the people we meet.

- Hi - Kids can be helpers in many ways; we could speak up if somebody is being treated unfairly, when other families are in need, we can help each other by donating toys, food or clothes.

Another way kids can be helpers is by making thoughtful notes.

Cards are a caring way to tell someone you are thinking about them.

These cards can say, "Get well, thank you," and anything else you can think of.

With the help of caring grownups in our lives, we can also help by volunteering.

Volunteering is giving your time and help to a person or organization.

There are many ways to volunteer.

Kids can pick up trash in the park or sort food at a food bank.

Every neighborhood has special ways kids can help.

How will you be a helper?

Grownup helpers are all around our neighborhood.

They are doctors, police officers, teachers, 911 operators, firefighters, line workers, meteorologists, paramedics, and so many more.

These helpers make our neighborhood better every day.

When you grow up, you might even choose to become one of these important helpers.

- [Announcer 2] To meet other helpers in our neighborhood, go to meetthehellebores.org.

(upbeat music) - [Man] In this place, he will stand for all time.

(soft upbeat music) - [Girl Child 1] I have a dream that this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed.

- [Girl Child 2] We hold these truths to be self evident that all men are created equal.

(soft upbeat music) - It is precisely because Dr. King was a man of flesh and blood and not a figure of stone, that he inspires us all.

(soft upbeat music) So must we draw inspiration from his constant insistence on the oneness of man, the belief in his words that we are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.

(soft upbeat music) That is why we honor this man, because he had faith in us.

- [Boy Child 1] With this faith, will they be able to shout the mountain of despair, a stone of hope.

- [Boy Child 2] With this faith, we will able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful souvenir of brotherhood.

- [Boy Child 3] With this faith, we'll be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

- He kept on pushing, he kept on speaking, he kept on marching until change finally came.

But he also understood that to bring about true and lasting change, there must be the possibility of reconciliation.

Dr. King refused to accept what he called the is-ness of today.

He kept pushing towards the oughtness of tomorrow.

- [Boy Child 4] I have a dream that my follower or children will one day live in a nation that they not be judged by color skin, but by the content of their character, I have a dream today.

- [Boy Child 5] One day, right there in Alabama, little black boys and little black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and little white girl, as it in brothers.

I have a dream today.

(soft upbeat music) - So on this day, which we celebrate a man on a movement that did so much for this country, let us draw strength from those earliest struggles.

Let us keep struggling.

Let's keeps struggling.

Let's keep climbing towards that promised land of a nation, the world that is more fair and more just and more equal for every single child of God.

(upbeat music) (soft piano music) - This program, we were able to get it off the ground, just through an in-kind investment by the Fair Housing Center, as well as the Diatribe.

We're both committed to making this program a reality.

The program involves a commitment by the Diatribe, they're the creative experts in the program.

And then the Fair Housing Center, we commit staff time to it, to just be there, to support the Diatribe and the teachers.

And so each week they learn a little nugget of civil rights of fair housing.

And it's hard stuff.

It's about the history of our country and it's difficult, especially for people of color to hear about how they've been discriminated against over the years.

- My title for my poem is, "Home to Me" "Home to Me" is a ticking time bomb that decides if you're gonna hit success or hit your death.

"Home to Me" is not being able to walk down the street and feeling safe.

- Having the Diatribe and being able to facilitate that, but then also provide tools to express yourself, to be artistic about it, to allow your creativity, to kind of get past some of the difficulty of it.

- We can all say, yes, racism exists, but what are the examples of racism?

Where does it really impact people's lives?

And I feel like focusing on housing is a very good place to start.

- Since I'm a different race here in this country.

And I guess it's either based on race or their jobs.

And I feel like that's what causes people to judge them, and feel like they shouldn't be living in houses that are like for people who are actually privileged to live here.

(soft upbeat music) - To see it play out in your classroom setting, and to be able to share the stories of our clients with the students, and to see how it connects with them, once they kind of put a face to the discrimination.

- Well, I think it's important for like other students to do this because, well, as you said, like we're kind of the younger generation and I didn't know anything about this before.

So I feel like if we spread more awareness on it, like the less and less that it will happen.

- What an inspiring show.

How will you remember Dr. King's legacy today.

to learn more about Dr. King, visit our website.

See you next time.

- [Announcer 1] This program is made possible in part by Michigan Department of Education, the State of Michigan, and by viewers like you.

(upbeat music)