Happy Birthday to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr! I remember back in 1980 hearing “Happy Birthday” off of the Stevie Wonder album, Hotter than July. Wonder had called Coretta Scott King, Martin Luther King’s widow, and said that he had a vision that one day there would be a national holiday to honor King’s legacy. He wrote “Happy Birthday” to be the spark, that would light a fire, that would eventually result, in 1986, in King’s birthday being the first national holiday to celebrate an African-American. “You know it doesn’t make much sense/ There ought to be a law against/ Anyone who takes offense/ At a day in your celebration.” This article from the Montgomery Advertiser recounts the whole story! https://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/story/news/2021/01/17/martin-luther-king-jr-day-stevie-wonder-happy-birthday-song/6565902002/
In honor of King’s Birthday I share A Place To Land: Martin Luther King Jr. and the Speech That Inspired a Nation, that tells the story of how he came to write his famous, earth shaking, ” I Have A Dream Speech.” The book does a good job sharing the excitement, intensity, and weightiness of the night before, and the day of, the 1963 March on Washington ( there is an overwhelming irony in comparing the most recent debacle/fiasco/criminal attempted right wing insurrection on January 6th and the moral high ground climbed on that day by Martin Luther King and the 250,00 who attended the March). Younger kids can be introduced to the ongoing movement for racial, economic and environmental justice. Older kids can explore the role of speech and language in activism and politics.
Here is the studio version of Stevie Wonder’s “Happy Birthday” (warning this video shows graphic violence inflicted on protesters by police) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrIrEgEX2hU
Here is a live version of song in honor of Nelson Mandela Day performed in 2009 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7iU1Sk2FDY
Here is an amazing multimedia, interactive version of the “I have a dream” speech from the Freedom’s Ring project out of Stanford University https://freedomsring.stanford.edu/?view=Speech
If you are anywhere near a National Park admission is free on Martin Luther King’s birthday! Mount Denali is the highest mountain in North America located in Denali National Park, Alaska, 20,310 feet above sea level. The lowest point in North America is in Death Valley National Park which is 282 feet below sea level. Let freedom ring from the highest mountain top to the lowest valley. Let freedom ring!
