Malvern educator teaches students about Dr. Martin Luther King’s legacy

Editor’s Note: This piece was written by Malvern Middle School teacher Claudine James explaining how she taught her students about the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

As an educator, when I teach about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., there are two things I attempt to highlight to my students. One, Dr. King’s non-violent activism offered a sense of hope to all who were fighting segregation. Two, Dr. King’s non-violent activism provided a role-model for social activists for generations to come, as well as, left a lasting legacy for all to see and remember.

On Tuesday, when I introduced the word “legacy to my students, few knew the definition of the word. Ironically, their lack of knowledge excited me because I love helping students to learn the definition of “legacy” Simply put, legacy is what you are able to hand down to others or how you are remembered - for eternity.

Dr. King said, “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is what are you doing for others?” His legacy is defined by his own words. I created a mnemonic device of Dr. King’s legacy. This visual serves as a tool to help students visualize and remember things more easily.

Dr. King’s LEGACY:

L - Love “Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend.” He used non-violent tactics, because as he stated, “Hate is too great of a burden to bear.”

E - Endurance “If you can't fly then run, if you can't run then walk, if you can't walk then crawl, but whatever you do, you have to keep moving forward.” Never giving up is an understatement, as MLK was arrested 29 times, participated in hundreds of demonstrations and protests, even losing his life in the middle of a protest.

G- Greatness “Everyone has the power for greatness, not for fame, but for greatness, because greatness is determined by service.” Graduating from high school at the age of 15 and college at the age of 19, MLK was destined for greatness in his role as pastor, orator, civil rights leader as well as son, father and husband.

A- Achieve “We all have the drum major instinct. We all want to be more important, to surpass others, to achieve.” In 1964, at the age of 35, MLK won the Nobel Peace Prize, at the time he was the youngest person to have ever won the prestigious award.

C - Courage “We must build dikes of courage to hold back the flood of fear.” King, like other civil rights leaders of the time, faced ongoing threats to his life, but never allowed his fear to stand in the way of his mission.

Y - Youthfulness “The time is always right to do what is right.” Few people who have lived such few years have been able to accomplish as much as MLK.

We find Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s 39 year LEGACY to be one of love, endurance, greatness, ability to achieve, courage and youthfulness. His entire life embodied the quote “let the works I do, speak for me.” As we observe the holiday set aside to remember him, may this visual serve as a reminder of his lasting legacy.

Several Malvern students also wrote essays reflecting on the legacy of King. The essays are featured on

Malvern students recently wrote these essays reflecting on the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Jenna Joynt

“I am here because injustice is here.” This is a quote from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s letter from Birmingham Jail. Dr. King was thrown into jail for protesting the treatment of African American’s in Birmingham. Dr. King was one of the most influential leaders whose dream has kept hope alive. I know this because of how inspirational he was, how he united for an important cause, and believed in justice for all.

Dr. King was an inspiration for all who were being treated unfairly. Dr. King had a dream to change the world. His dream was challenging and even deadly. Dr. King believed violence made things worse; he encouraged nonviolent protest and sit- ins. He encouraged people to help fight without violence. This nonviolent thing was hard, but it inspired people. It inspired them to fight for their rights and equality. Dr. King even reached out to kids.

In 1963, many children led a march for the fight to put segregation to rest. At least 2,000 kids were arrested those couple of days. These children were inspired by Dr. King to make a change and to join a movement, no matter what the cost was. They wanted to see a result. That shows that Dr. King reached out to everyone, no matter the age, size, gender, or race. He influenced so many people and still is today, even if he isn’t here anymore.

Dr. King united the nation by giving the people a reason to unite. People wanted to be treated equally and fairly. He joined together so many people to create a nonviolent way of social change. Social change is when you have an extreme impact on society. Civil rights movements were a type of social change.

These movements occurred because Dr. King, and many other civil rights activists such as John Lewis, united the people of America. With the nation unified, activists knew they could create a difference. Once again, the reason why people wanted social change during this time was because African- Americans were being treated unjust. Segregation was ended because of the protests, speeches, and the nation uniting for a change.

Dr. King may be known the most for ending segregation, but he did way more than that. In the south, where segregation was mainly practiced, was where civil rights movements were hit the hardest. Some examples of segregation are that white people and African- Americans couldn’t share the same water fountain, bathroom, restaurants, and even schools. He believed that every single person deserved justice.

He wanted his children to be treated equally, so he knew what every other parent wanted. I think that’s why he fought so hard for everyone to have justice. He fought for every single African- American person. Now, America is completely integrated. Dr. King wanted justice for not only African- Americans, but everyone else in the world, too.

Dr. King was inspired by Mahatma Gandhi’s work, which was an Indian civil rights activist who also believed in nonviolence. Dr. King believed all men are created equally. He met with many other civil rights leaders around the world. His work was used by many other activists like Nelson Mandela. That shows that what he did for African- Americans in the United States can be used for any race and in any country.

Dr. King has changed so much for our nation, and the world. I am so grateful that my African- American friends are not having to go through what their ancestors had to go through. Dr. King’s dream has kept hope for a completely fair- minded world alive. He will always be remembered as one of the most influential leaders because of how inspirational he was, how he united the nation, and how he believed in justice for everyone. “We will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

Marissa Banks

When someone wants to make a change they may feel as though they have to be the first in order to be remembered for wanting to make the change in the first place. However you don’t have to be the first to be remembered for making a change. It’s how you make the change , and the actions you take. That’s what made one African American man, Martin Luther King Jr., one of the most influential leaders of a massive movement that would change the world for decades to come.

Martin Luther King Jr. was one of the key leaders of the civil rights movement, and he wanted everyone to be treated equally no matter the color of their skin. Others agreed with him as well but what made MLK different was the way he wanted this change to come about as well as how he wanted the civil rights movement to be perceived. He wanted to do things such as have peaceful protests and boycotts. He wanted to do things in a peaceful and nonviolent way which is why so many people remember who he is and the things he did, not because he was the first - but because he did things peacefully.

Although Martin Luther King Jr. has passed away, he’s still someone people from all over look up to and celebrate as well as many other influential African Americans who have paved the way. However as years have passed and equality has gotten somewhat better, there’s still a lot of work to be done: such as police brutality has become a rising and controversial issue especially the summer of 2020. An AA man named Georged Floyd was killed because of police brutality. Sadly, he has become one of many AA to be killed by police brutality. However, George Floyd was different because his death caused a spark of people from all over the world all different races to come together and protest peacefully.

Despite so many people being angry, hurt, and feeling let down, they decided to protest peacefully. When fighting for equality or anything for that matter, he did not teach to burn buildings or cause physical harm to anyone; all that does is silence you.

In MLK’s “I Have a Dream” speech. you hear a man who has hope that one day America will rise and become the great country it’s meant to be. One of the things MLK said in his speech that will always resonate with me is “Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time…” Even years later he still gives me hope as well as many others hope that one day we all will rise from the dark and desolate valley of inequality to the sunlit path of racial justice.

Even though we still have a long way ahead of us, many parts of MLK’s speech have come true. Children of different races are able to play with one another. African Americans now have the chance to have high ranking jobs. Those two things may seem simple. but it simply shows how far we have come. Not just the African American community but everyone as a whole. Martin Luther King Jr. gave us his dream, and we have made parts of his dream come true which should give us all hope. Now we must take that dream and the hope we all have and strive for greatness and make even more of MLK’s dream our reality.

Lainee Burrnett

There are plenty of inspirational people in the world but one person in particular is Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He led American to peace and equality from the 1950’s to the 1960’s. When learning about Martin Luther King, Jr. I always felt inspired by his words and his confidence in everything he did. When MLK was born he already had the spark to be the most influential person, and as he got older the spark not only grew in him but it grew in many others as well.

“I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.”. That quote has inspired many people around the world on how hate is a burden and to get that out of your life you need to love. When he said that he was just trying to bring everyone together and make everyone equal. He was basically saying why hate a person and bring a burden into your life, when you could feel your life with happiness if you just love. When we push away the fact that we are all human and that we make mistakes it ruins our life. MLK was trying to reach peace in America no matter the color of your skin, and that is what gave equal rights to all people in America.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. made sure that he would get rights for everyone and he did that by motivating people to speak up through peaceful protests, sit ins, marches, even getting up in front of a huge crowd and telling people how you feel. He started a movement that inspired millions of people not only in the 50’s but also today as well. The way that MLK took an approach on the movement was super inspiring. He saw problems as a child and later on he tried to fix the problems he saw going on right in front of him. He wanted to fix problems such as discrimination, segregation, and build equality in America.

When I picked up the first book about MLK it inspired me tremendously, showing me that if I saw a problem going on I need to speak up on it and fix it.

Everyday there is a problem but most people don’t speak up on it and it just keeps happening over and over again. MLK saw problems and he knew that if he wanted them to end then he needed to try to make change. That is truly inspiring to me because it has helped me encourage people to create change just as MLK did.

“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about the things that matter.”, that quote is the most inspirational quote i have ever heard. That goes along with everything he was for which was that if things are important then we need to speak up and we need to create change. Something that MLK always talked about was that we needed to drop the hate and just choose love instead, which is what brought everyone together. He also inspired people to join in on making a change through peaceful protests, sit ins, and speeches. Also he inspired people that if you acknowledge a problem then you need to try to fix it. With everything that I have learned or read about MLK it has pushed me and many others to not turn our head to the problems that are happening in the world.

Allysa Terry

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” Is one of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s most known quotes. The things MLK did for African Americans and people who were discriminated against left a long lasting impact on the world. His speeches, marches, quotes, and protests are well known to this day and have helped change living, working, and housing conditions for people of color. He worked so hard on what he believed America should be like because he wanted “freedom, equality, justice, and love” because all men are created equal.

Dr. King’s most famous speech was his “I Have a Dream Speech”. In this speech he made it clear that he wanted civil and economic equality and for racism to end. This speech was a dream of his and he wanted to share with the world how it should be and why we shouldn’t continue living the way we were by discriminating against people and treating them badly for something they can’t control. This speech helped pass the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

MLK had a march known as “March on Washington For Jobs and Freedom” including “March from Selma to Montgomery”. During the 5 days and over 25,000 people and 50 miles they had to end it because President Lyndon Johnson was threatening to take away their voting rights. The outcome of the marches was congress passing the voting right which made sure millions of people could finally vote.

When Rosa Parks was arrested after being taken off a bus, a boycott began and no one would ride the city’s busses until they could sit where they wanted. Dr. King soon after became the leader of this boycott and tried to explain why it was so important to be nonviolent and peaceful. This boycott lasted 381 days. The impact this boycott had was the Supreme Court deciding that bus segregation was “unconstitutional”.

Dr. Martin Luther King is the greatest and most well known Civil Rights leader known today; his impact will live on for as long as racism and segregation are discussed. Everything MLK has done for African Americans has changed the world for the best, and even though racism is still pretty bad, we are trying to make it better. I think everything MLK did should be discussed with everyone because what he did was so brave and heroic. I will continue to talk about and spread his legacy to people who have not heard or seen MLK’s impact on society.

Bailee Bozeman

“He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.” Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a very wise man and this is one of the many quotes spoken by him that helps prove it. Dr. King was different than most people.

Most people didn’t do what he did. They just let what was happening happen because they didn’t know how to act on it or they may have been scared. If they did try to do something about it, it was usually taken about the wrong way, violence. Dr. King knew that he couldn’t live like that any longer and he didn’t want anyone else to have to live like that, so he did something about it. Dr. King did fight but he never fought with violence. He knew that violence would only make things worse so he fought peacefully.

“Use me, God. Show me how to take who I am, who I want to be, and what I can do, and use it for a purpose greater than myself.” Dr. King was very selfless. He didn’t want fame from this, he just simply wanted peace. He wanted a world where everyone loved one another and had no hate in their hearts. Dr. King was a preacher, he wasn’t only fighting for equality, he wanted God’s love to be known. The only way that he could go about the issues with no violence is because he had God by his side and he wanted everyone else to have him, too.

“We will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” Dr. King knew that he couldn’t do this alone. He knew he could make a difference but he needed help. You can’t expect something to change if you sit down and don’t do anything to make a change. Dr. King inspires me to do what I can to make a change. I don’t want to be remembered for my silence, I want to be remembered for what I did to make the world a better place.

Dr. King’s legacy is that he never stopped fighting, he never gave up, and he did what he could to make a change. I want to be remembered like Dr. King is remembered. I want people to know my name because of the good I did, and without someone like Dr. King to inspire me, I wouldn’t be able to do that.

“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.”

One thing Dr. King always made sure to do was to show love to everyone. He didn’t care who you were, where you came from, how you treated him or anyone else, he just showed you love. That is one thing that is very hard to do. We all make mistakes and I’m sure it wasn’t easy but he knew that treating someone the wrong way wouldn’t solve any problems.

We have these quotes and speeches spoken by Dr. King and we look at how things were before he tried to make a change and what happened after he did make a change. He brought the people closer together and we need someone like him today. That person could be me, or it could be one of my peers, it could be all of us. Nothing is impossible and if you want to make a change, get up and do it. Fight for what is right and don’t think twice about it. It will be hard but Dr. King did it, and so can we.

“People fail to get along because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don’t know each other; they don’t know each other because they have not communicated with each other.” I want to be more talkative. I want to get to know people better. The more you get to know someone, the better you can do for the world. We’re so caught up in politics or social media or problems in the world that we don’t communicate anymore. We argue on social media and make the world a dreadful, toxic place. If we take a break from that and actually get to know someone, we would most likely be so much happier.

Dr. King wanted us to come together and love each other, we can’t do that if we don’t know each other. On Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2021, we should all put our phones down and do something to make a difference. The smallest thing can make a big impact. Dr. King was such a loving and brave person, and we should do all we can to honor him and fulfill his dream.

Jaylin Crain

“I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream.” Is what the famous Martin Luther King Jr had said in his famous “I hHave a dream speech.” His speech is known worldwide. He was born in Atlanta Georgia, on January 15, 1929. He grew up with his dad, a preacher. When he grew up, Martin Luther King Jr, was a preacher at a church called Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church. Just like his father. Martin Luther King Jr, wanted everyone to know that the African Americans were not being treated how they were supposed to be treated. That is how everything started.

Martin Luther King Jr, had grown up to be a successful man. He skipped two grades, because he was smart. Just like his father. And after he graduated at the age of 15, he went to a college where they would teach him how to preach. The school that he went to, to learn how to preach was called Morehouse College. Martin Luther King Jr, graduated from Morehouse College in 1948. Martin Luther King did not really start his movement until the 1950’s, through the 1960’s.

His first change he wanted to make, was sitting on the bus. Back in the 1950’s, they had a rule that the African Americans had to sit in the back of the bus, and the whites could sit up front. One day, another famous person by the name of Rosa Parks, decided to sit in the front. Rosa Parks was asked to stand up and go to the back. But she refused. She was later arrested, which made everyone go crazy.

Martin Luther King, got to thinking, and decided to do something that would shock the nation. He decided to do something called a boycott. Which is, where you won’t use something for the great or good. For example, they would not sit on the bus. They would walk, in rain, snow, or any weather. They won. That was one thing that they had fixed, now they had a whole lot more to do.

The next thing that they worked on, was getting the segregation fixed. Martin Luther King went to the Southern Christan Leadership Conference ( SCLC) to get help with that. They also did sit-ins. A sit-in is where they go somewhere, and they sit down - in protest. But they don’t order anything, they don’t talk to other people. They just sit there. That’s what they did. Until they won. It was a very hard thing to do, because people threw things at them, including rocks and sticks, even spit on them. They even were called names.

In his hopes of getting segregation under control, he and others went to DC. This is where he delivered his famous speech. Then, they walked all the way from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. That is a long way to walk, but they did it. Because they knew that they wanted to be treated equally, they knew that they wanted the same voting rights. Dr. King did it all. He grew up just like us, but he died a hero.