Teachers Help: I am teaching a Civil War Unit, but want to give students a little break on...?

Doctor King's "I have a dream" speech did indeed relate to slavery, which was a proximate cause of the American Civil War. The movie "Glory" would be a good one for him to watch - maybe you can assign that to your classes as homework and ask for written impressions on it after-wards. Your black student might also find inspiration by looking up the stories of black men who served as soldiers and earned the nation's highest award for valor in battle, the Medal of Honor (note: it's not the Congressional Medal of Honor; the word "Congressional" is not part of the medal's name). You might also mention the Tuskegee Airmen, black combat pilots in World War Two. And of course, our current President: whether you think him a good one or not, his election to our nation's highest office was the most profound happening in our land since the assassination of President Kennedy.

I'm old enough to remember when the majority of whites in this country would state publicly that there'd NEVER be a black President while they were alive. Well, now there is one - and that should be as inspiring to your student as anything he could learn about the Civil War.

Just some thoughts from a Civil War re-enactor...

Civil War & MLK Jr are totally unrelated. I've never heard of a movie that would cover both. MLK Jr was for African American rights, and his speech was nearly 100 years after the Civil War. African American rights were sparked by the Civil War, but if you think about it, they were mainly freed and given rights as a political act back then. Martin Luther King had moral reasons. You could always play Glory, thats a classic. I don't think you will find a movie that covers both the Civil War and MLK though, because they aren't really viewed together in history

I'm surprised a teacher would ask this question... let alone spell, 'speech' incorrectly. I'm sure if you look in to it hard enough, you can most certainly find some relevance.