Martin Luther King Jr. Day is not just a time for reflection on the civil rights leader’s legacy. It is also a day of service in remembrance of his call to action to help others. To help families celebrate MLK Day, a federal holiday observed the third Monday of January, and teach children the value of his message, we’ve compiled some suggestions.

Learn about MLK

There are many great books and videos to help children of all ages, on their own and with parental guidance, learn more about King’s life and dedication to combat racism and inequality.

Videos

BrainPOP, an online educational resource for children, offers free animated videos and related educational materials:

• For children in grades K through three, the six-minute video on King is accompanied by quizzes and links to age-appropriate videos on other important figures in Black history.
• For children in grades four through eight, this video also comes with links to historic newspaper articles and extra reading material on King’s accomplishments.
• BrainPop also offers a short animated summation of civil rights history in the United States aimed at older children.

If your kids don’t need animation, Free School offers a nice six-minute bio of King’s life and work.

And, of course, you can hear and watch King’s famous “I Have a Dream Speech” together.

Books

Younger children will enjoy My Daddy, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., written by his son, Martin Luther King III, and illustrated by A.G Ford. It offers a glimpse into the family life of a crucial figure in this nation’s history.

Let the Children March is a multi-award-winning picture book by Monica Clark-Robinson with illustrations by Frank Morrison about African American children who marched for civil rights in Alabama after listening to King speak.

Martin’s Big Words: The Life of Martin Luther King, Jr., written by Doreen Rappaport and illustrated by Bryan Collier, puts the civil rights leader’s words in context. It adds additional straightforward text and powerful images.

Mature tweens and teens may like the graphic novel March: Book One by the late civil rights pioneer and U.S. Rep. John Lewis and Andrew Aydin with illustrations by Nate Powell. Starting with Lewis’ upbringing in Alabama, the 128-page book covers his life-changing meeting with King and its influence on his efforts to bring about racial justice and fairness.

Volunteer, serve to celebrate MLK Day

If you celebrate MLK Day by volunteering to help others in some way, you are following one of King’s sagest pieces of wisdom. “Everybody can be great … because anybody can serve,” King said. “You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.” AmeriCorps, an independent agency of the U.S. government focused on service, suggests several ways for the whole family can volunteer to celebrate MLK Day, such as:

• Bringing meals to homebound neighbors
• Organizing a food donation drive to benefit a local food pantry
• Create community green spaces by planting trees, grass, and flowers, especially in locations that may lack adequate green space
• Clean up a park or abandoned space
• Shovel elderly neighbors’ walkways, clear leaves or help with other yard maintenance

Points of Light, an international nonprofit dedicated to engaging people and resources in solving social problems through voluntary service, offers several resources to help you celebrate MLK Day through education and activity, including several DIY projects families can undertake.

Other ideas include:

• Build a Little Free Library for your neighborhood.
• Write greeting cards or letters to cheer deployed military personnel through Soldier Angel, or to isolated senior citizens through Letters Against Isolation.
• Organize a clothing donation drive to benefit a local shelter

Photo: © Atomazul / Adobe Stock.

The ideas of peace, love, hard work and understanding are core elements of the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. And on this day, when we recognize not only the man but also the impact he had on us as a country, I think it is important to reflect on some of his words. Here are five quotes that have stuck out to me for various reasons.

“Whatever your life’s work is, do it well. A man should do his job so well that the living, the dead and the unborn could do it no better.”

There’s something to be said for having pride in your work, but also to recognize your talents. But that phrase “life’s work” gets me. How many of us know what that is? Have you discovered that yet? Are you ignoring it? Are you working toward it? It’s not an easy answer, but one worth pursuing. We are all blessed with the talent to impact our environment. It is our choice whether to do it positively, negatively or indifferently.

“I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality. … I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word.”

“Unarmed truth” and “unconditional love.” Sometimes those can be a tall order. If our goal is indeed peace and brotherhood, then we have to think about our approach to ideas and each other. Are we arming ourselves with truth simply to be right or to actually achieve the goal of peace and understanding. The difference matters.

“Nonviolence means avoiding not only external physical violence but also internal violence of spirit. You not only refuse to shoot a man, but you refuse to hate him.”

Nonviolence is more than not committing violent acts. It is also about reigning in the spirit. We pay attention to a lot of the external factors in our environment because it is what we can see or hear. However, our spirit dictates so much of what we see and demands our attention.

“Rarely do we find men who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking. There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked solutions. Nothing pains some people more than having to think.”

In this day and age, there is a tendency to rush stories, to rush decisions, to rush judgement. However, we owe it to ourselves, and each other, to stop and think, and to avoid cutting corners. Actually think actions through and consider the consequences. When you consider half-baked solutions usually lend themselves to re-thinking, why not think it through the first time?

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”

When confronted with negativity, our easiest reaction is to return suit, but does that solve anything? You can’t out-dark darkness and you can’t out-hate hate. Adding the negative to the negative simply compounds the problem. While it may sound cliché and while it may consequently sound cheesy, light and love are the strongest weapons in our arsenal.

We’ve made a lot of progress since Martin Luther King Jr. made his famous speech at the feet of Abraham Lincoln’s memorial, but we shouldn’t stop dreaming yet.

A version of this first appeared on Tales from the Poop Deck.

Fathers have a powerful impact on the people their children become.  We have a huge impact in framing the world our children live in.  We set up the system in which the begin to shape their values and their moral code.  Today we are celebrating the life of Martin Luther King Jr. So let’s take a look at how his father set the stage for him to become the man we celebrate today.

Martin Luther King Sr. worked hard to improve his lot in life. As a result of that effort he created a life in which his son did not have to choose between working or getting an education. His example as a leader in their community led his son toward the fight for civil rights. Most importantly he was always there for his son, underscoring the value of a father who is present in his child’s life.

In his own words Martin Luther King Jr. attributed the following characteristics to his father:

1. Courage

I have rarely ever met a person more fearless and courageous than my father, notwithstanding the fact that he feared for me. He never feared the autocratic and brutal person in the white community. If they said something to him that was insulting, he made it clear in no uncertain terms that he didn’t like it.

2. Education

My dad …became determined to leave the farm. He often says humorously, ‘I ain’t going to plough a mule anymore.’ …Although he was then eighteen—a year older than most persons finishing high school—he started out getting a high school education and did not stop until he had finished Atlanta’s Morehouse College.

3. Integrity

He is a man of real integrity, deeply committed to moral and ethical principles. He is conscientious in all of his undertakings. Even the person who disagrees with his frankness has to admit that his motives and actions are sincere.

4. Civil Rights

My father has always had quite an interest in civil rights. He has been president of the NAACP in Atlanta, and he always stood out in social reform… He led the fight in Atlanta to equalize teachers’ salaries and was instrumental in the elimination of Jim Crow elevators in the courthouse.

5. Presence

If I had a problem I could always call Daddy. Things were solved.

In honouring the man who did so much in the fight for equality today, may we also take a moment to look inward. May we emulate his father and try to be men who set the framework for our own children to go forward and  do great things as well.

Dear Dr. King,

Happy Birthday, Sir. It’s that time of year again when Americans spend time celebrating your enduring legacy. What a legacy it is! Thank you for your efforts, your determination, your confidence, and your focus. I promise you that I will not spend this time on some luxurious weekend skiing or sunning. I will spend this time paying proper tribute to all that you sacrificed to help make my current family an honest reality.

You know what, Dr. King? I don’t just think about you for a couple of days or weeks in January. I try to do some level of this good work 365, 24/7. I remain committed to fighting this fight and hope that the people in my family’s life will join this if they have not already done so. But, I can only speak of my efforts. Here’s what I promise, Dr. King. I will not stand quietly. You did not do what you did for people to be bystanders. Ignorance and bigotry will not reign supreme in my presence.

To those who feel they need to question my choice of spouse and the racial makeup of my daughter, I will not stand quietly.

To those who hide behind the First Amendment, religion, liberalism or conservatism so that they can say hurtful things, and to those who blindly and ignorantly defend those people without thinking of the often life threatening consequences of those statements, I will not stand quietly.

To those who try to excuse racism or sexism or any of the other “-isms” for some reason without trying to understand why someone had his or her feelings hurt, I will not stand quietly.

I owe you and the people who came before me this vigilant approach. After all, you once said that, “Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.” No truer words ever spoken.

Once again, I thank you, Dr. King.

A version of this first appeared on The Brown Gothamite.

Photo credit: Martin Luther King, Jr. memorial via photopin (license)