From MLK Jr. to Barack Obama
Amy Enright and Rebecca Franks
Normal West High School
Summer 2008
Obama, Barack. “A More Perfect Union.”
American Rhetoric. N.d. Internet. 10 June 2008.
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/03/18/
obama-race-speech-read-t_n_92077.html>
King, Martin Luther, Jr. “I Have a Dream.”
American Rhetoric. N. d. Internet. 10 June 2008.
<http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkihaveadream.htm>
In this unit students will compare and contrast speeches from two famous African
Americans who changed the course of American history. Martin Luther King Jr. and
Barack Obama both use their ability to inspire and lead others with their words and
actions. Using primary sources students will analysis the changes that have and will take
place because of the ideals and convictions of these prominent men.
Overview/ Materials/LOC Resources/Standards/ Procedures/Evaluation/Rubric/Handouts/Extension
Overview
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Objectives




Students will identify the main ideas of the speeches
from Martin Luther King and Barack Obama.
Students will compare and contrast the speeches of
Martin Luther King and Barack Obama.
Students will indentify supporting facts of main
ideas of speeches Martin Luther King and Barack
Obama.
Students will evaluate the common themes of the
speeches of Martin Luther King and Barack Obama.
Recommended time frame
10 day unit
Grade level
9-11
Curriculum fit
Social Studies, English
Teaching with Primary Sources
Illinois State University
Materials
Day 1: Brainstorming Station Posters (7), markers, tape,
stopwatch
Day 2: Link to MLK speech, computers/headphones or
speakers, MLK speech analysis worksheet, copy of
MLK speech transcript
Day 3: Link to Obama speech, computers/headphones
or speakers, Obama speech analysis worksheet, copy of
Obama speech transcript
Day 4: Copy of both speech transcripts, Venn Diagram,
sorting circle maps, set of photographs for each pair of
students
Day 5-10: All students will need access to computers,
assessment menu, assessment rubric, guided outline,
other materials as needed by individual students based
on options chosen
Illinois State Learning Standards
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Social Science
GOAL 16: Understand events, trends, individuals
and movements shaping the history of Illinois, the
United States and other nations.
 16 A. Apply the skills of historical analysis and
interpretation.
 16 B. Understand the development of significant
political events.
 16 D. Understand Illinois, United States and world
social history.
GOAL 18: Understand social systems, with an
emphasis on the United States.
 18 B. Understand the roles and interactions of
individuals and groups in society.
Procedures
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Day One:
 Hang brainstorming posters on walls around the
room
Teaching with Primary Sources
Illinois State University



Split students in groups of 3 to 4
Each student group will be assigned to start at a
station. They are to brainstorm words, phrases,
pictures, etc) that relate to the topic listed (each
group using a different color marker). 1st and 2nd
station will have 1 minute to complete brainstorm.
3rd and 4th station will have 1.5 minutes, 5th -7th will
have 2 min to complete activity. Students may not
repeat any ideas from previous groups.
When activity is finished, discuss results on each
station as a class
Day Two:
 With computer/headphones or a speaker system,
provide students with the link to MLK Jr’s speech
along with the transcription of the speech and the
speech analysis worksheet.
 As the students listen/read the speech, have the
students identify key phrases, quotes and ideas that
they read/hear using the worksheet. Note that the
students should summarize the speech by noting
recurrent themes and ideas of that particular speech
on their worksheet.
Day Three
 With computer/headphones or a speaker system,
provide students with the link to Obama’s speech
along with the transcription of the speech and the
speech analysis worksheet.
 As the students listen/read the speech, have the
students identify key phrases, quotes and ideas that
they read/hear using the worksheet. Note that the
students should summarize the speech by noting
recurrent themes and ideas of that particular speech
on their worksheet.
Day Four
Activity 1
 Have students assemble in pairs. Pass out a
copy of the Venn Diagram.
 Using transcripts and analysis sheets from day 2
and 3, have students compare and contrast the
two speeches using the Venn Diagram.
Activity 2
 Provide each pair of students with the
Teaching with Primary Sources
Illinois State University


provided circle maps and a set of
photographs.
Instruct students to sort pictures into groups
that relate to the ideas listed on the maps
(this is open to interpretation of the
students….there is no wrong or right
answer.)
At the end of the period, summarize both
activities as a class
Day Five-Ten:
 See Evaluation
Evaluation
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


Extension
Goals and objectives for this unit will be assessed
through a set of differentiated products (tic-tac-toe
assessment).
Students and teachers will choose one assessment
product from each objective area, for a total of three
finished products.
Specific assessment products are described in the
Assessment Menu document and accompanying
rubrics.
Back to Navigation Bar
Objectives for higher level students:
 Students will develop a connection between past
and present issues based on the speeches of
Martin Luther King and Barack Obama
(through assessment activity)
 Students will evaluate the progression of change
from the time period of Martin Luther King’s
speech to Barack Obama’s speech.(through
assessment activity)
Teaching with Primary Sources
Illinois State University
Primary Resources from the Library of Congress
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Image
Description
Race speech re: Rev.
Wright, transcript and
video
Audio and text of
Martin Luther King,
Jr.’s “I Have a Dream”
speech given August
28, 1963.
A drinking fountain."
[Sign: "White."]
Citation
Obama, Barack. “A
More Perfect Union.”
American Rhetoric.
N.d. Internet. 10 June
2008.
<http://www.huffingto
npost.com/2008/03/18
/obama-race-speechread-t_n_92077.html>
King, Martin Luther,
Jr. “I Have a Dream.”
American Rhetoric.
N. d. Internet. 10 June
2008.
<http://www.american
rhetoric.com/speeches/
mlkihaveadream.htm>
Bethlehem-Fairfield
shipyards, Baltimore,
Maryland.
May 1943.
Arthur Siegel,
photographer.
"A drinking fountain."
[Sign: "White."]
Location: D-90666
Reproduction
Number: LC-USW326442-E
URL
http://www.huffington
post.com/2008/03/18/
obama-race-speechread-t_n_92077.html
http://www.americanr
hetoric.com/speeches/
mlkihaveadream.htm
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/
pnp/ppmsc/00100/001
96r.jpg
Teaching with Primary Sources
Illinois State University
Colored waiting room
sign
Restaurant with
separate entrances for
whites and blacks
Sign refusing service
to Indians
American house
Rome, Georgia.
September 1943.
Esther Bubley,
photographer. "A sign
at the Greyhound bus
station."
[Sign: "Colored
Waiting Room."]
Location: E-5153
Reproduction
Number: LC-USZ6275338
Durham, North
Carolina. May 1940.
Jack Delano,
photographer.
"A cafe near the
tobacco market."
[Signs: Separate doors
for "White" and for
"Colored."]
Location: E-9064
Reproduction
Number: LC-USF3320513-M2
Birney, Montana.
August 1941.
Marion Post Wolcott,
photographer.
"Signs behind the
bar." [Sign:"Positively
no beer sold to
Indians."] (This is the
same sign as in #27.)
Location: G-9067
Reproduction
Number: LC-USF3458504-D
Library of Congress,
Prints & Photographs
Division, FSA-OWI
Collection,
[reproduction
number,LC-USF3 4020306-E ]
http://memory.loc.gov/
pnp/fsa/8d33000/8d33
300/8d33365r.jpg
http://memory.loc.gov/
pnp/fsa/8a33000/8a33
700/8a33793r.jpg
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/
pnp/ppmsc/00200/002
23r.jpg
http://memory.loc.gov/
cgibin/query/r?ammem/fs
aall:@field(NUMBER
+@band(fsa+8b34304
))
Teaching with Primary Sources
Illinois State University
House
Library of Congress,
Prints & Photographs
Division, FSA-OWI
Collection,
[reproduction number,
LC-USF34-056129-D
DLC (b&w film neg.)]
http://memory.loc.gov/
cgibin/query/r?ammem/fs
aall:@field(NUMBER
+@band(fsa+8c13902
))
Women’s suffrage
rally
Women of Protest:
Photographs from the
Records of the National
Woman's Party,
Manuscript Division,
Library of Congress,
Washington, D.C.
http://memory.loc.gov/
cgibin/query/r?ammem/m
nwp:@field(DOCID+
@lit(mnwp000287))
Slave ship
Racially integrated
legislature of South
Carolina
Commencement
exercises at a
women’s school
"Africans on Board the
Slave Bark Wildfire, April
30, 1860."
From Harper's Weekly,
June 2, 1860.
Copyprint.
Prints and Photographs
Division.
Reproduction Number:
LC-USZ62-19607 (1-20)
Radical Members of the
First Legislature after the
War, South Carolina.
Photograph.
1878.
Prints and Photographs
Division.
Reproduction Number:
LC-USZ62-28044 (5-11)
First Commencement
Exercise. National
Training School for
Women and Girls.
Lincoln Heights,
Washington, D.C., June 9,
1911.
Copyprint.
Prints and Photographs
Division.
Reproduction Number:
LC-USZ62-119986 (6-14)
http://www.loc.gov/exh
ibits/odyssey/archive/0
1/0120001r.jpg
http://memory.loc.gov/
ammem/aaohtml/exhibi
t/aopart5b.html
http://www.loc.gov/exh
ibits/odyssey/archive/0
6/0614001r.jpg
Teaching with Primary Sources
Illinois State University
Sign in NYC
Impoverished family
in Arkansas
Shack of
impoverished family
Illinois Governor’s
mansion
Wealthy family
Crawford Hill
mansion
A Man Was Lynched
Yesterday.
Flag flying above Fifth
Avenue, New York City,
ca. 1938. Copyprint.
NAACP Collection, Prints
and Photographs Division.
Reproduction Number:
LC-USZC4-4734/LCUSZ62-33793 (6-10b)
Courtesy of the NAACP
Library of Congress,
Prints & Photographs
Division, FSA-OWI
Collection,
[reproduction number,
LC-USF33-006071M2 DLC (b&w film
nitrate neg.)]
Library of Congress,
Prints & Photographs
Division, FSA-OWI
Collection,
[reproduction number,
LC-USF34-009695-E
DLC (b&w film
nitrate neg.)]
DN-0002247, Chicago
Daily News negatives
collection, Chicago
Historical Society
DN-0002251, Chicago
Daily News negatives
collection, Chicago
Historical Society.
Western
History/Genealogy
Department, Denver
Public Library
http://www.loc.gov/exh
ibits/odyssey/archive/0
6/0610002r.jpg
http://memory.loc.gov/
cgibin/query/r?ammem/fs
aall:@field(NUMBER
+@band(fsa+8a16382)
)
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cgibin/query/r?ammem/fs
aall:@field(NUMBER
+@band(fsa+8b29749)
)
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cgibin/query/r?ammem/cd
n:@field(NUMBER+
@band(ichicdn+n0022
47))
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cgibin/query/r?ammem/cd
n:@field(NUMBER+
@band(ichicdn+n0022
51))
http://memory.loc.gov/
cgibin/query/r?ammem/ha
wp:@field(NUMBER+
@band(codhawp+0018
5608))
Teaching with Primary Sources
Illinois State University
“A disgrace before God:
Striking black sanitation
workers vs. black
officialdom in 1977
Atlanta.” Libcom. Org.
At a civil rights
demonstraton
A sit-in at a
Woolworth lunch
counter in
Tallahassee during a
civil rights
demonstration 1960.
(Photo: Florida State
Archives)
N.d. Internet. 11 June
2008.
<http://libcom.org/libr
ary/disgrace-godstriking-blacksanitation-workers-vsblack-officialdom1977-atlanta>
“1960 Sit In at
Woolworth.” Florida
Humanities Council.
N.d. Internet. 11 June
2008.
<http://www.flahumfo
rms.org/FloridaDream
/index.htm >
http://libcom.org/librar
y/disgrace-godstriking-blacksanitation-workers-vsblack-officialdom1977-atlanta
http://www.flahumfor
ms.org/FloridaDream/i
ndex.htm
“1963 March on D.C.
1963 March on D.C.
Rosa Parks arrest
Civil Rights
Demonstration, Black
History is Teamster
History” Democratic
Underground.com. N.d.
Internet. 11 June 2008.
<http://www.democrat
icunderground.com/di
scuss/duboard.php?az
=view_all&address=3
67x8113>
Mrs. Rosa Parks being
fingerprinted in
Montgomery,
Alabama, 1956.
Gelatin silver print.
New York WorldTelegram & Sun
Collection,
Prints and
Photographs Division
(119)
http://www.democratic
underground.com/discu
ss/duboard.php?az=vie
w_all&address=367x8
113
www.loc.gov/exhibits/
brown/brownaftermath.html
Teaching with Primary Sources
Illinois State University
Man in wheelchair
Woman during
Depression
Am I not a man and
a brother?
The Bain Collection.
Disabilities Studies,
Temple U. N.d.
Internet. 12 June
2008.
<disstud.blogspot.com
/2006_05_01_archive.
html>
Lange, Dorothea.
Migrant Mother.
1936. America from
the Great Depression
to World War II:
Black-and-White
Photographs from the
FSA-OWI, 1935-1945.
N.d. American
Memory. Lib. Of
Congress. 12 June
2008.
<http://memory.loc.go
v/cgibin/query/r?ammem/fs
aall:@filreq(@field(N
UMBER+@band(cph
+3c31366))+@field(C
OLLID+fsa))>
Unknown. Am I not a
man and a brother?
Broadside Collection.
Library of Congress
Prints and
Photographs. 12 June
2008.
http://memory.loc.gov
/cgibin/query/r?pp/app:@f
ield(NUMBER+@ban
d(cph+3g05321))
disstud.blogspot.com/2
006_05_01_archive.ht
ml
http://memory.loc.gov/
cgibin/query/r?ammem/fs
aall:@filreq(@field(N
UMBER+@band(cph+
3c31366))+@field(CO
LLID+fsa))
http://memory.loc.gov/
cgibin/query/r?pp/app:@fi
eld(NUMBER+@band
(cph+3g05321))
Teaching with Primary Sources
Illinois State University
Support peaceful
protest by monks in
Burma
...
Unknown. Support
peaceful protest by
Monks in Burma.
September 27, 2007.
Pensador’s Blog. 12
June 2008.
<http://pensador.org/b
log/124/personal/supp
ort-peasceful-protestby-monks-inburma.php>
http://pensador.org/ima
ges/posts/peaceful_prot
est_by_monks_in_bur
ma.jpg
Teaching with Primary Sources
Illinois State University
Rubric
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Assessment Menu
Skill:
Identifying Main Ideas and Details
Using Technology to Communicate
Product:
Level 1 – Guided Outline
Level 2 – Graphic Organizer
Level 3 – PowerPoint or Publisher
Description of Requirements
Points Earned/Possible
At least two relevant details are listed for each main idea.
/10
Details are quoted or paraphrased accurately
/10
Final product is of high quality
/10
Technology was used as required by product
/5
Total
/35
Skill:
Comparing and Contrasting
Writing for a Variety of Purposes
Product:
Level 1 – Paragraph
Level 2 – 1 Page Essay
Level 3 – 2 Page Essay
Description of Requirements
Points Earned/Possible
Two similarities presented with adequate support
/20
One difference presented with adequate support
/10
Writing follows appropriate format
/5
Standard writing conventions applied correctly
/5
Total
/35
Skill:
Interpreting and Applying
Product:
Level 1 – Paragraph
Level 2 – 1 Page Essay
Level 3 – 2 Page Essay
Description of Requirements
Points
Earned/Possible
2 appropriate and relevant pictures/primary sources
/10
are present for each key theme
Caption for each item clearly connect the
/10
picture/primary source to the key theme
Visual presentation is of high quality
/10
Total
/30
Teaching with Primary Sources
Illinois State University
Handouts
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Day 1: Brainstorming Stations Hang these posters on the wall for students to
complete the carousel activity
Day 2 and 3: Speech Analysis Worksheets: On separate days, have students
listen/read to each speech and fill out the speech analysis sheet for each transcript.
Day 4a: Comparison of speeches: Using the Venn diagram, have students pair up
and compare/contrast elements of both speeches.
Day 4b: Interpreting pictures: In pairs, have students apply the key ideas of the
speeches by choosing a photograph that they feel represents the key ideas expressed
in both speeches. Use the Circle Maps for sorting purposes.
Day 5-10: Assessment project: Students will choose from a menu of assessment
products. These are differentiated to address a variety of skill levels. Assist
students in choosing appropriate assessments for their individual ability. Each
student must complete one activity from each row. Columns represent different
levels of difficulty. Various combinations of difficulty levels can be used. (i.e. some
students can complete all level 1 activities, some all level 3, or a combination
thereof.)
Assessment Menu
Guided outline (level 1)
Teaching with Primary Sources
Illinois State University
Directions: For the time allowed, brainstorm as many words, things, people, or places that represent the topic listed.
You cannot repeat anything that a previous group has written!
Directions: For the time allowed, brainstorm as many words, things, people, or places that represent the topic listed.
You cannot repeat anything that a previous group has written!
Directions: For the time allowed, brainstorm as many words, things, people, or places that represent the topic listed.
You cannot repeat anything that a previous group has written!
Directions: For the time allowed, brainstorm as many words, things, people, or places that represent the topic listed.
You cannot repeat anything that a previous group has written!
Directions: For the time allowed, brainstorm as many words, things, people, or places that represent the topic listed.
You cannot repeat anything that a previous group has written!
Directions: For the time allowed, brainstorm as many words, things, people, or places that represent the topic listed.
You cannot repeat anything that a previous group has written!
Directions: For the time allowed, brainstorm as many words, things, people, or places that represent the topic listed.
You cannot repeat anything that a previous group has written!
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Speech Analysis Worksheets
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Directions: Listen /read each speech. Identify
Quotes that stand out to you and the key idea they
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represent.
When you are done listening/reading both speeches, answer
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the summary questions at the bottom of the page..
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 Martin Luther King, Jr. “I Have a Dream”
 Quote_________________________________________
 Key Idea:
 Quote_________________________________________
 Key Idea
 Quote_________________________________________
 Key Idea
 Quote_________________________________________
 Key Idea
 Quote__________________________________________
 Key Idea
What key idea continued to occur throughout this speech?
 Quote_________________________________________
 Key Idea:
 Quote_________________________________________
 Key Idea
 Quote_________________________________________
 Key Idea
 Quote_________________________________________
 Key Idea
 Quote__________________________________________
 Key Idea
What key idea continued to occur throughout this speech?
NAME:___________________________________________________
Historical Speeches
I Have A Dream
A More Perfect Union
Directions: Using the pictures provided, place a picture that you feel best represents the topic listed above.
Directions: Using the pictures provided, place a picture that you feel best represents the topic listed above.
Directions: Using the pictures provided, place a picture that you feel best represents the topic listed above.
Directions: Using the pictures provided, place a picture that you feel best represents the topic listed above.
Directions: Using the pictures provided, place a picture that you feel best represents the topic listed above.
Directions: Using the pictures provided, place a picture that you feel best represents the topic listed above.
Directions: Using the pictures provided, place a picture that you feel best represents the topic listed above.
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Speech Analysis Outline
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Directions: For each of the main ideas listed in the
outline, find three specific examples from the speech
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transcripts that support the idea. You may quote excerpts
or paraphrase text.
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 Martin Luther King, Jr.
“I Have a Dream”
The American Dream



Positive and Negative Methods of Change



Suffering of the African-American Race



Unity of the Races



Inequality



 Barack Obama
“A More Perfect Union”
The American Dream



Positive and Negative Methods of Change



Suffering of the African-American Race



Unity of the Races



Inequality


