Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Left, monument in Birmingham Alabama and
Right, monument in Washington D.C.

       Martin Luther King Jr. was born Michael King Jr., January 15, 1929  and died April 4, 1968. He was an American Baptist minister and activist who became the most visible spokesperson and leader in the civil rights movement. He is best known for his role in the advancement of civil rights using the tactics of nonviolence and civil disobedience based on his Christian beliefs and inspired by the nonviolent activism of Mahatma Gandhi.

       King became a civil rights activist early in his career. He led the 1955 Montgomery bus boycott and helped found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) in 1957, serving as its first president. With the SCLC, he led an unsuccessful 1962 struggle against segregation in Albany, Georgia, and helped organize the 1963 nonviolent protests in Birmingham, Alabama. He also helped to organize the 1963 March on Washington, where he delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech.

       On October 14, 1964, King received the Nobel Peace Prize for combating racial inequality through nonviolent resistance. In 1965, he helped to organize the Selma to Montgomery marches, and the following year he and SCLC took the movement north to Chicago to work on segregated housing. In the final years of his life, he expanded his focus to include opposition towards poverty and the Vietnam War, alienating many of his liberal allies with a 1967 speech titled "Beyond Vietnam".

       In 1968, King was planning a national occupation of Washington, D.C., to be called the Poor People's Campaign, when he was assassinated by James Earl Ray on April 4 in Memphis, Tennessee. King's death was followed by riots in many U.S. cities.

       King was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal. Martin Luther King Jr. Day was established as a holiday in numerous cities and states beginning in 1971, and as a U.S. federal holiday in 1986. Hundreds of streets in the U.S. have been renamed in his honor, and a county in Washington State was also renamed for him. The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., was dedicated in 2011.

• The King Center 
• The National Museum of African American History

Civil Rights Artifacts:

• "I Have a Dream..." Speech
• "Free At Last" Hymn  
• Emancipation Proclamation

Civil Rights Links:

• Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Global Freedom Struggle ~ an online multimedia encyclopedia presented by the King Institute at Stanford University, includes information on over 1000 civil rights movement figures, events and organizations
• Encyclopædia Britannica: Article on Civil Rights Movement
• The History Channel: Civil Rights Movement
• Civil rights during the Eisenhower Administration, Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library

Emancipation Proclamation

       The Emancipation Proclamation is a state paper issued by President Lincoln, January 1, 1863, by which all slaves in the states or parts of states actually engaged in rebellion and unrepresented in Congress, or not in possession of the Union armies, were declared free. It was justified as a "fit and necessary war measure" and had been contemplated by Lincoln for many months. When, in September, 1862, Lee was checked at the Battle of Antietam, Lincoln issued a preliminary statement announcing his intention of declaring the slaves free on January 1rst if the South in the meantime did not return to the Union. The final proclamation did not legally abolish slavery, but abolition was made effective by the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution.

Emancipation Proclamation by Lincoln.

Reproduction of the Emancipation Proclamation at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati, Ohio

• A zoomable image of the Leland-Boker authorized edition of the Emancipation Proclamation held by the British Library
• Lesson plan on Emancipation Proclamation from EDSITEment NEH
• Text and images of the Emancipation Proclamation from the National Archives
• Emancipation Proclamation and related resources at the Library of Congress
• Mr. Lincoln and Freedom: Emancipation Proclamation
• First Edition Emancipation Proclamation in 1862 Harper's Weekly
• Chronology of Emancipation during the Civil War
• American Abolitionists and Antislavery Activists, chronology of Abraham Lincoln and emancipation
• Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation at the New York State Library – images and transcript of Lincoln's original manuscript of the preliminary proclamation
• The Emancipation Proclamation public domain audiobook at LibriVox

"Free At Last" Hymn

Way down yonder in the graveyard walk,
I thank God I'm free at last,
Me and my Jesus goin' to meet and talk
I thank God I'm free at last, O [Refrain]

Refrain:
Free at last, free at last;
I thank God I'm free at last;
Free at last, Free at last,
I thank God I'm free at O
Free at last, free at last;
I thank God I'm free at last;
Free at last, Free at last,
I thank God I'm free at last.

Ona my knees when the light passed by,
I thank God I'm free at last.
Thought my soul would rise and fly
I thank God I'm free at last, O [Refrain]

Some of these mornings, bright and fair,
I thank God I'm free at last,
Goin' meet King Jesus in the air,
I thank God I'm free at last, O [Refrain]

Folk Songs of the American Negro (No. 1), 1907

"This is Joyful Noise, a gospel acapella group in the DC Metro area"

"I Have a Dream..." Speech

       "I Have a Dream" is a public speech delivered by American civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28, 1963, in which he calls for an end to racism in the United States and called for civil and economic rights. Delivered to over 250,000 civil rights supporters from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., the speech was a defining moment of the civil rights movement.

       Beginning with a reference to the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed millions of slaves in 1863, King observes that: "one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free" Toward the end of the speech, King departed from his prepared text for a partly improvised peroration on the theme "I have a dream", prompted by Mahalia Jackson's cry: "Tell them about the dream, Martin!" In this part of the speech, which most excited the listeners and has now become its most famous, King described his dreams of freedom and equality arising from a land of slavery and hatred. Jon Meacham writes that, "With a single phrase, Martin Luther King Jr. joined Jefferson and Lincoln in the ranks of men who've shaped modern America". The speech was ranked the top American speech of the 20th century in a 1999 poll of scholars of public address.

• PDF of Copyright speech 1963, by Rev. Martin Luther King

"I Have a Dream Speech" from August 28, 1963

       King delivered a 17-minute speech, later known as "I Have a Dream." In the speech's most famous passage—in which he departed from his prepared text, possibly at the prompting of Mahalia Jackson, who shouted behind him, "Tell them about the dream!"King said:

I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.'
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today.

       "I Have a Dream" came to be regarded as one of the finest speeches in the history of American oratory. The March, and especially King's speech, helped put civil rights at the top of the agenda of reformers in the United States and facilitated passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

• Former Villanova All-American has Dr. King's original "I have a dream" speech and didn't know it for twenty years

Arbor Day

Portrait if Birdsey Northop.

        Arbor Day was a day designed by legislative enactment in many states for the voluntary planting of trees by the people. It was inaugurated in 1874 by the Nebraska state board of agriculture, at the suggestion of J. Morton, afterwards Secretary of Agriculture in President Cleveland's second administration. 

       Arbor Day is observed late in April or early in May in many countries other than the United States, around the world during the warm planting months. 

• National Arbor Day Foundation
• Friends Of Trees

"A people without children would face a hopeless future; a country without trees is almost as hopeless; forests which are so used that they cannot renew themselves will soon vanish, and with them all their benefits. A true forest is not merely a storehouse full of wood, but, as it were, a factory  of wood, and at the same time a reservoir of water. When you help to preserve our forests or plant new ones you are acting the part of good citizens. The value of forestry deserves, therefore, to be taught in the schools, which aim to make good citizens of you. If your Arbor Day exercises help you to realize what benefits each one of you receives from the forests, and how by your assistance these benefits may continue, they will serve a good end."

Theodore Roosevelt.
The White House, April 15, 1907. 

Arbor Day Artifacts:

• Leaf stencils for craft projects

Tree Themed Art Projects for Arbor Day:

• Weave Some Yarn Trees
• A Treehouse Collage 
• A Family Tree Craft for Grandparent's Day
• Tear and Paste Falling Leaves
• "Chicka, Chicka, Boom, Boom" in My Classroom
• Paint Fall Foliage With Hugs and Kisses

History, Observance & Poems: 

• Arbor Day Letter of President Theodore Roosevelt
• A New Holiday by George William Curtis 
• Arbor Day by Nicholas Jarchow 
• A Summer Snowstorm!
• Arbor Day in Schools by B. G. Northrup 
• Arbor Day's Observance by A. S. Draper 
• The Snow-Bird
• A Hymn for Arbor Day by Henry Hanby Hay
• Arbor Day by anonymous
• The Popular Poplar Tree
• He Who Plants an Oak by Washington Irving 
• The Planting of the Apple-Tree by William Cullen Bryant
• The Popular Poplar Tree
• The Love of Nature by Wordsworth
  
• A Forest Hymn by Bryant
  
• The Forest Trees by Eliza Cook
  
• Plant a Tree by Lucy Larcom
  
• The Oak by George Hill
  
• Woodman, Spare That Tree! by George P. Morris
  
• Forest Song by W. H. Venable
  
• Invitation by Charles Sangster
  
• Planting for The Future by Harriet B. Wright
  
• The heart of the tree...
• The Ivy Green by Charles Dickens
  

The Planting Of The Apple Tree

The Planting Of The Apple Tree

by William Cullen Bryant

Come, let us plant the apple-tree!

Cleave the tough greensward with the spade;

Wide let its hollow bed be made;

There gently lay the roots, and there

Sift the dark mold with kindly care,

And press it o'er them tenderly,

As round the sleeping infant's feet

We softly fold the cradle-sheet;

So plant we the apple-tree.

What plant we in this apple-tree?

Buds which the breath of summer days

Shall lengthen into leafy sprays;

Boughs where the thrush, with crimson breast,

Shall haunt, and sing, and hide her nest;

We plant upon the sunny lea

A shadow for the noontide hour,

A shelter from the summer shower,

When we plant the apple-tree.

What plant we in this apple-tree ?

Sweets for a hundred flowery springs

To load the May-wind's restless wings,

When from the orchard-row he pours

Its fragrance through our open doors;

A world of blossoms for the bee,

Flowers for the sick girl's silent room,

For the glad infant sprigs of bloom,

We plant with the apple-tree.

What plant we in this apple-tree?

Fruits that shall swell in sunny June,

And redden in the August noon,

And drop when gentle airs come by.

That fan the blue September sky;

While children, wild with noisy glee,

Shall scent their fragrance as they pass

And search for them the tufted grass

At the foot of the apple-tree.

And when above this apple tree

The winter stars are quivering bright.

And winds go howling through the night,

Girls, whose young eyes o'erflow with mirth.

Shall peel its fruit by the cottage hearth;

And guests in prouder homes shall see,

Heaped with the orange and the grape.

As fair as they in tint and shape.

The fruit of the apple-tree.

The fruitage of this apple-tree,

Winds, and our flag of stripe and star,

Shall bear to coasts that lie afar,

Where men shall wonder at the view,

And ask in what fair groves they grew:

And they who roam beyond the sea

Shall think of childhood's careless day,

And long hours passed in summer play

In the shade of the apple-tree.

Each year shall give this apple-tree

A broader flush of roseate bloom,

A deeper maze of verdurous gloom,

And loosen, when the frost-clouds lower.

The crisp brown leaves in thicker shower.

The years shall come and pass; but we

Shall hear no longer, where we lie,

The summer's songs, the autumn's sigh,

In the boughs of the apple-tree.

But time shall waste this apple-tree.

Oh, when its aged branches throw

Thin shadows on the ground below,

Shall fraud and force and iron will

Oppress the weak and helpless still ?

What shall the task of mercy be.

Amid the toils, the strifes, the tears

Of those who live when length of years

Is wasting this apple-tree?

"Who planted this old apple-tree?"

The children of that distant day

Thus to some aged man shall say;

And, gazing on its mossy stem,

The gray-haired man shall answer them:

"A poet of the land was he,

Born in the rude but good old times;

'Tis said he made some quaint old rhymes

On planting the apple-tree."

He Who Plants An Oak

       He who plants an oak looks forward to future ages, and plants for posterity. Nothing can be less selfish than this. He cannot expect to sit in its shade nor enjoy its shelter; but he exults in the idea that the acorn which he has buried in the earth shall grow up into a lofty pile, and shall keep on flourishing and increasing, and benefiting mankind long after he shall have ceased to tread his paternal fields. The oak, in the pride and lustihood of its growth, seems to me to take its range with the lion and the eagle, and to assimilate, in the grandeur of its attributes, to heroic and intellectual man.

       With its mighty pillar rising straight and direct toward heaven, bearing up its leafy honors from the impurities of earth, and supporting them aloft in free air and glorious sunshine, it is an emblem of what a true nobleman should be; a refuge for the weak - a shelter for the oppressed - a defense for the defenseless; warding off from them the peltings of the storm, or the scorching rays of arbitrary power. by Washington Irving.

Arbor Day

       Our modern institution - Arbor Day - is a public acknowledgement of our dependence upon the soil of the earth for our daily, our annual, bread. In recognition of the same fact the Emperor of China annually plows a furrow with his own hand, and in the same significance are the provisions in the ancient law of Moses, to give the land its seven-year Sabbath, as well as to man his seventh day for  rest and recreation. Our observance is a better one, because it calls on all, and especially on the impressible learners in the schools to join in the duty which we owe to the earth and to all mankind,  of doing what each of us can to preserve the soil's fertility, and to prevent, as long as possible, the  earth, from which we have our being, from becoming worn out and wholly bald and bare. And we  do this by planting of any sort, if only by making two blades of grass grow where but one grew before, and by learning to preserve vegetation. We give solemnity to this observance by joining in it on an appointed day, high and low, old and young, together.

A Hymn For Arbor Day

By Henry Hanby Hay

(To be sung by schools to the tune of "America")

God save this tree we plant!

And to all nature grant

Sunshine and rain.

Let not its branches fade,

Save it from axe and spade.

Save it for joyful shade -

Guarding the plain.

When it is ripe to fall,

Neighbored by trees as tall,

Shape it for good.

Shape it to bench and stool,

Shape it to square and rule,

Shape it for home and school,

God bless the wood.

Lord of the earth and sea,

Prosper our planted tree.

Save with Thy might.

Save us from indolence,

Waste and improvidence.

And in Thy excellence.

Lead us aright.

Arbor Day's Observance by Draper

       The primary purpose of the legislature in establishing "Arbor Day," was to develop and stimulate in the children of the Commonwealth a love and reverence for Nature as revealed in trees and shrubs and flowers. In the language of the statute, to encourage the planting, protection and preservation of trees and shrubs" was believed to be the most effectual way in which to lead our children to love Nature and reverence Nature's God, and to see the uses to which these natural objects may be put in making our school grounds more healthful and attractive.

       The object sought may well command the most thoughtful consideration and the painstaking efforts of school officers, teachers, and pupils in every school district, and in every educational institution and of all others who are interested in beautifying the schools and the homes of the state.

       It will be well not only to plant trees and shrubs and vines and flowers where they may contribute to pleasure and comfort, but also to provide for their perpetual care, and to supplement such work by exercises which will lead all to a contemplation of the subject in its varied relations and resultant influences. It is fitting that trees should be dedicated to eminent scholars, educators, statesmen, soldiers, historians or poets, or to favorite teachers or pupils in the different localities.

       The opportunity should not be lost, which is afforded by the occasion, for illustrating and enforcing the thought that the universe, its creation, its arrangement and all of its developing processes are not due to human planning or oversight, but to the infinite wisdom and power of God.

       Our school exercises, and particularly those of an unusual character, should be interspersed with selections, songs, and acts which will inspire patriotism. by A. S. Draper, 1909.

Arbor Day In Schools

       J. Sterling Morton, once Secretary of the United States Department of Agriculture, originated Arbor Day in Nebraska in 1872. His able advocacy of this measure was a marvelous success the first year, and still more each succeeding year. So remarkable have been the results of Arbor Day in Nebraska that its originator is gratefully recognized as the great benefactor of his state. Proofs of public appreciation of his grand work I found wherever I have been in that state. It glories in the old misnomer of the geographies, "The Great American Desert," since it has become so habitable and hospitable by cultivation and tree-planting. Where, twenty years ago, the books said trees would not grow, the settler who does not plant them is the exception. The Nebraskans are justly proud of his great achievement and are determined to maintain its preeminence.

       Arbor Day for economic tree-planting and Arbor Day in schools differ in origin and scope. Both have been erroneously attributed to me, though long ago I advocated tree-planting by youth, and started the scheme of centennial tree-planting, offering a dollar prize, in 1876, to every boy or girl who should plant, or help in planting five "centennial trees"; still the happy idea of designating a given day when all should be invited to unite in this work belongs solely to ex- Governor Morton. His great problem was to meet the urgent needs of vast treeless prairies. At the meeting of the American Forestry Association, held at St. Paul in 1883, my resolution in favor of observing Arbor Day in schools in all our states was adopted, and a committee was appointed to push that work. Continued as their chairman from that day to this, I have presented the claims of Arbor Day personally, or by letter, to the governor, or state school superintendent in all our states and territories.

       My first efforts were not encouraging. The indifference of state officials who, at the outset, deemed Arbor Day an obtrusive innovation, was expected and occasioned no discouragement. My last word with more than one governor was: "This thing is sure to go. My only question is, shall it be under your administration or that of your successor?" Many state officials who at first were  apathetic, on fuller information have worked heartily for the success of Arbor Day. The logic of events has answered objections. Wherever it has been fairly tried it has stood the test of experience. Now such a day is observed in forty states and territories, in accordance with legislative acts or recommendation of state agricultural and horticultural societies, of the state grange, or by special proclamation of the governor or recommendation of the state school superintendents, and in some states by all these combined. It has already become the most interesting, widely observed and useful of school holidays. It should not be a legal holiday, though that may be a wise provision for the once treeless prairies of Nebraska.

       Popular interest in this work has been stimulated by the annual proclamations of governors and the full and admirable circulars to state and county school superintendents sent to every school in the State.

       Arbor Day has fostered love of country. It has become a patriotic observance in those Southern States which have fixed its date on Washington's Birthday. Lecturing in all these states, I have been delighted to find as true loyalty to the Stars and Stripes in them as in the North. This custom of planting memorial trees in honor of Washington, Lincoln, and other patriots, and also of celebrated authors and philanthropists, has become general. Now that the national flag with its forty-five stars floats over all the school-houses in so many states, patriotism is efifectively combined with the Arbor Day addresses, recitations and songs. Among the latter "The Star Spangled Banner" and "America" usually find a place. Who can estimate the educating influence exerted upon the millions of youth who have participated in these exercises? This good work has been greatly facilitated by the eminent authors of America who have written so many choice selections in prose and poetry on the value and beauty of trees, expressly for use on Arbor Day. What growth of mind and heart has come to myriads of youth who have learned these rich gems of our literature and applied them by planting and caring for trees, and by combining sentiments of patriotism with the study of trees, vines, shrubs, and flowers, and thus with the love of Nature in all her endless forms and marvelous beauty!

       An eminent educator says: "Any teacher who has no taste for trees, shrubs or flowers is unfit to be placed in charge of children." Arbor Day has enforced the same idea, especially in those states in which the pupils have cast their ballots on Arbor Day in favor of a state tree and state flower. Habits of observation have thus been formed which have led youth in their walks, at work or play, to recognize and admire our noble trees, and to realize that they are the grandest products of Nature and form the finest drapery that adorns the earth in all lands. How many of these children in maturer years will learn from happy experience that there is a peculiar pleasure in the parentage of trees, forest, fruit or ornamental - a pleasure that never cloys but grows with their growth.

       Arbor Day has proved as memorable for the home as the school, leading youth to share in dooryard adornments. Much as has been done on limited school grounds, far greater improvements have been made on the homesteads and the roadsides. The home is the objective point in the hundreds of village improvement societies recently organized. The United States Census of 1890 shows that there has recently been a remarkable increase of interest in horticulture, arboriculture, andfloriculture. The reports collected from 4,510 nurserymen give a grand total of 3,386,855,778 trees, vines, shrubs, roses, and plants as then growing on their grounds. Arbor Day and village improvement societies are not the least among the many happy influences that have contributed to this grand result. by B. G. Northrup, 1909.

Arbor Day by Jarchow

       It is not long since some of our treeless Western States, desiring to promote the culture of trees, appointed a day early in spring for popular tree planting. But up to 1883 no state had advanced this movement by the institution of an Arbor Day to be celebrated and observed in schools. Ohio was the first state to move in this matter and to interest the schools in this work. Cincinnati's

       Arbor Day in the schools in the spring of 1883 will be remembered by all who took a part in the talks and lessons on trees during the morning hours, and in the practical work during the afternoon. The other states of the East, which have all suffered more or less by the wanton destruction of their primeval forests, soon followed in the wake of the Buckeye State, and our own Empire State celebrated for the first time in the spring of 1889 the Arbor Day in the public schools.

       Many considered this scheme impracticable for large cities where trees are a rare sight and where no opportunity is given for practical planting. But the logic of events has now removed any doubts and secured a general appreciation of this subject. To every patriotic American this is most satisfactory, as in the public schools should be introduced what ever shall appear in the nation's life. The foundation of the great deeds the Germans have achieved in every discipline of art, science, industries, and even in warfare, is due to the "schoolmaster." And if we train the youth into a love for trees, the next generation will see realized what we scarcely hope to initiate, the preservation of forests not only for climatic and meteorological purposes, but also for their value in the economy of the nation.

       Children may not be able to understand the importance of trees in their aggregation as forests; however, they will, if allowed to assemble in a grove or park, be inspired with the idea that trees are one of the grandest products of God when they hear that without them the earth could never have produced the necessaries of life, and that with their destruction we could not keep up the sustained growth of the plants that feed man and animals. There is no more suitable subject for practical oral lessons, now common in most of our schools, than the nature of plants, and especially that of trees and the value of tree-planting. Such lessons occupy only a little time, taking the place of a part of the "Reader." They tend to form the habits of accurate observation of common things which are of vast importance in practical life. These lessons will lead our youth to admire and cherish trees, thus rendering a substantial service to the State as well as to the pupils by making them practical arborists.

       Wherever the opportunity is given, children should be encouraged to plant or help in planting a tree, shrub or flower, actually practicing what they have learned in the study of the growth and habits of plants. They will watch with pride the slow but steady development of a young tree, and find a peculiar pleasure in its parentage. Such work has not only an educational effect upon the juvenile mind, but its aesthetic influence cannot be over- estimated. Tree planting is a good school for discipline in foresight, the regard for the future being the leading element in this work. Young people are mostly inclined to sow only where they can soon reap; they prefer the small crop in hand to a great harvest long in maturing. But when they are led to obtain a taste for trees, the grandeur of thought connected with this important line of husbandry will convince them that a speedy reward is not always the most desirable motive in the pursuits of our life, and is not worthy of aspiring men. For patiently to work year after year for the attainment of a far-off end shows a touch of the sublime, and implies moral no less than mental heroism. by Nicholas Jarchow, LL.D., 1909