8th Grade Core



Eighth Grade Core Name_______________

Primary Source: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream Speech”

The March on Washington, D. C.

August 28, 1963

Assignment

Think back to the conditions that Melba Patillo Beals describes in the 1950’s in Warriors Don’t Cry. In order to address the vast inequalities and legalized racism (like segregation), black citizens faced their community came together and began The Civil Rights Movement. It took place in the 1950’s and 60’s, and as you know Martin Luther King, Jr. was a leader of the movement, a visionary man who was able to inspire not only those oppressed here, but the downtrodden throughout the world with his non-violent resistance and his commitment to true democracy for all. Following is one of the most famous speeches in American history that he gave on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. in front of hundreds of thousands of people who had gathered there to march in support of Civil Rights for all. His speech will be referred to throughout your life and will be a touchstone for other activities we do.

In order to study the speech, we first have to understand its words.

1. Begin by reading the whole thing aloud to yourself or to someone else or listen to him deliver the speech at (it’s about 17 minutes of video, including footage of him walking to the speech) without stopping to figure out parts you don’t understand. Just read or listen to it to get the overall idea and the flavor of it. Be sure to enjoy its rhythm and poetry.

2. Read it again, marking it up as you go—mark important sections, questions, and look up the words whose meaning you don’t know and write their definitions in the margin of the paper. Do not even try to tell us that you know all the words in this speech! (

3. Write a response to the speech that is at least 3/4 of a page long and use specifics.

4. Do a bit of research and find out what this march was for and why it’s so famous. Write down your findings at the end of your response page.

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