Who to choose for my first post?

This is tricky because so many ideas come to mind, but let's start with one that is student generated and pops up in essays.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (The Jr. is important.)

At least once every 6 months or so, a student will write about how Martin Luther King freed the slaves during the Civil War. The confusion crops up with the difference between the Civil War (1861-1865) and the Civil Rights movement (1955-1968). These events are 100 years apart. The Civil War was between the Northern and Southern States over the issue of slavery and ended with the North winning and the abolishment of slavery with the Emancipation Proclamation, and after the war the 13th amendment to the U.S. Constitution which banned all slavery in U.S. States and Territories. Unfortunately these legal changes did not change the way white society viewed black people and 100 years later that Civil Rights Movement of the 1950's-60's acted to gain equality for all.

 Dr. King was an active member of the Civil Rights movement in the 1950's-60's until he was assassinated on April 4, 1968 at the age of 39. In 1963, the March on Washington occurred with the largest gathering of citizens on Washington in its history. During this event King gave his iconic "I have a dream" speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. In 1965, King won the Nobel Peace Prize for his work to eliminate racial segregation and to gain civil rights through non-violent protest. This is the merest sliver of the events and actions surrounding Kings life. But at a minimum you need to know that he was alive from 1929-1968 and that he was working for Civil Rights in order to end  discriminatory "Jim Crow" laws that espoused segregation.

The Civil Rights Movement is a complicated time with many people who affected the United States of that time and to think that it all begins and ends with Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks would be a mistake. A good overview of the highs and lows of the movement is A Dream of freedom: the civil rights movement from 1954 to 1968 by Diane McWhorter .

To understand what life was like in the American South during the Civil Rights Movement try one of these novels.
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
 The Help by Kathryn Stockett
The Watsons go to Birmingham by Christopher Paul Curtis