March On!: The Day My Brother Martin Changed The World

Farris, Christine King. March On!: The Day My Brother Martin Changed The World. New York: Scholastic Press, 2008.

March On!: The Day My Brother Martin Changed The World won the Teacher's Choice in 2009. The story is told from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s older sister. She addresses questions including how the activist prepared for his famous speech and what the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28, 1963 was like. This unique perspective that the story is written from allows the reader to focus on the march and the morning of the speech. The author's use of color and larger front puts emphasize on the important aspects in the story.

Resources to Supprt the Text

Martin Luther King Jr. and The Civil Rights Movement

This website is a great tool for the students to use to navigate and explore the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. It provides a biography of the activist, a timeline showing the events that have happened during his life that correlate to the civil-rights movement, a study guide for the teacher to use with the students and photo galleries. The students can use this website to learn more about the life that Martin Luther King Jr. lived.

March On! The Day My Brother Martin Changed the World... and More Stories About African American History-Scholastic DVD

This short film is an inspiring DVD that shares an important message. The film illustrates photographic footage from the historical events and enhances the classroom lessons through exploring the wrongness of segregation and promoting the acceptance of others. The first story in this film is of Martin Luther King Jr.'s speech in Washington D.C. followed by other stories of prejudice and  events of African American segregation including Rosa Park's story. The film provides an accurate depiction of the facts and information that is really beneficial to the students learning. The DVD can be viewed after the students have read the book, allowing them to visually watch about the historical event that they previously learned about in the text.

Key Vocabulary

Protest, equality, nation, nonviolence, liberty, march, Washington DC., dignity, racism, civil rights, boycott

Reading Strategy

During reading, the teacher can perform a read aloud. In the text, there are phrases that are printed in larger font and color and pictures that illustrate the historical event. While reading the book aloud, the teacher can model to the students how to read with fluently, placing emphasis on the important aspects of the text.

Writing Strategy

How would Civil Rights in the United States be different if Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. did not write and perform his "I Have A Dream" speech in Washington D.C.?