Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is January 17

Monday, January 17, 2011 is Martin Luther King, Jr., Day across the United States. It is a federal holiday with federal, state government and schools closed.

On February 19, 1964 Rev. Dr. King spoke before an audience of 8,000 students jammed into the University of Hawaii’s Andrews Amphitheater. The next day the Honolulu Advertiser featured the following reflections in its editorial column:

“He captured and awed them with an hour-long richly vivid speech that was at once polemic, a sermon, a prophecy and an affirmation of faith in man’s essential decency.

“He said little that was new…but Dr. king gave the words a renewed meaning, holding his audience virtually hypnotized with his mighty, organ-like voice. The sentences marched in magic cadence, laden with Biblical imagery and Shakespearean quotation.

“It was a speech of compelling power and few could have come away failing to understand why Time magazine put Dr. King on its cover as Man of the Year.

“He stood forth sharply as the soul of the Negro revolution, and, even as spokesman for America’s conscience.”

In the April 5, 1968 edition of the Honolulu Advertiser features reaction to Rev. Dr. King’s assassination we take this occasion to share.

Charles M. Campbell was the leader of the Hawaii delegation at the Selma, Alabama March in 1965. He reportedly sent a telegram to Coretta Scott King which said:

“The news of your husband’s death has rocked the nation as well as the world. It has come as a great personal shock to my family and me, because we shall never forget the kind of constructive and warm advice that has given me concerning keeping the movement for the freedom of all people non-violent.

“The grief that hangs over our nation is indescribable, but there is hope that this great struggle will now come to greater focus in a nation where bigotry has been allowed to survive all too long.

“From your husband’s teachings we now know that America can no longer expect to be secure where there is a remnant of discrimination based on race.”

The following is a listing with link to sample lesson plans and educational resources:

The King Center. Click here.

A-Z Teacher Stuff. Click here.

The Teacher’s Corner. Click here.

Read Write Think: International Reading Association. Click here.

The Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute of Stanford University. Click here.

U.S. History Site. Click here.

PBS NewsHour. Click here.

The National Archives. Click here.

The Asia Society. Click here.