Martin Luther King Jr. Day

History U

History U offers free, self-paced courses for high school students.

• America’s First Civil Rights Movement Professor Kate Masur, Northwestern University
• Black Women’s History with Professor Kellie Carter Jackson, Wellesley College
• The History of American Protest with Professor John Stauffer, Harvard University 
• Race and Rights in America with Professor Lucas Morel, Washington and Lee University 
• The Revolutionary Lives of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. with Professor Peniel Joseph, University of Texas at Austin
• The 1960s in Historical Perspective with Professor Michael Flamm, Ohio Wesleyan University, and Professor Michael Kazin, Georgetown University

Self-Paced Courses

Self-Paced Courses offer graduate-level online instruction in American history by eminent historians. Courses are available to watch or listen to on your own time and at your own pace. Teachers can also get certificates for CEU credits.

• Race and Rights in America led by Lucas Morel, Washington and Lee University
• America’s First Civil Rights Movement led by Kate Masur, Northwestern University
• Black Women’s History led by Kellie Carter Jackson, Wellesley College
• Black Writers in American History led by John Stauffer, Harvard University
• The History of American Protest led by John Stauffer, Harvard University
• African American History since Emancipation led by Peniel Joseph, University of Texas at Austin
• The Revolutionary Lives of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. led by Professor Peniel Joseph, University of Texas at Austin
• The Civil Rights Movement led by Charles W. McKinney, Rhodes College
• The 1960s in Historical Perspective led by Michael Flamm, Ohio Wesleyan University, and Professor Michael Kazin, Georgetown University

History Now

History Now, the online journal of the Gilder Lehrman Institute, features essays by the nation’s leading historians.

• “The Passage of the Civil Rights Act” by Clay Risen (History Now 41, “The Civil Rights Act of 1964: Legislating Equality,” Winter 2015)
• “Teaching the Civil Rights Act of 1964 “by Charles L. Zelden (History Now 41, “The Civil Rights Act of 1964: Legislating Equality, “Winter 2015)
• “Different Perspectives on the Civil Rights Movement” by Anthony J. Badger (History Now 8, “The Civil Rights Movement,” Summer 2006)
• “The Civil Rights Movement: Major Events and Legacies” by James T. Patterson (History Now 8, “The Civil Rights Movement,” Summer 2006)
• “African American Religious Leadership and the Civil Rights Movement” by Clarence Taylor (History Now 8, “The Civil Rights Movement,” Summer 2006)
• “A Place in History: Historical Perspective on Martin Luther King Jr. Day” by James Oliver Horton (History Now 4, “American National Holidays,” Summer 2005)

Online Exhibitions

The Gilder Lehrman Institute has over eighty online exhibitions covering American history from the colonial era to the present day.

• Timeline: Fulfilling America's Founding Principles: African American History
• The Right to Vote: Part 4
• African American Voting Rights
• The History of Race Relations in America: African American Experiences, 1492-Present

Spotlights on Primary Sources

Each Spotlight on a document from the Gilder Lehrman Collection provides explanatory text, a transcript, and an image of the featured document.

• Don’t Buy a Ford Ever Again, ca. 1960
• Medical Committee for Civil Rights pamphlet on the March on Washington
• Robert Kennedy on civil rights, 1963
• Bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, 1963
• George Wallace on segregation, 1964
• Civil rights posters, 1968

Middle and High School Students

• Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream Speech”
• Fighting Jim Crow: Douglass, Washington, and Du Bois, 1887–1906
• Free Black Resistance in the Early Republic, 1813 and 1833
• Malcolm X and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.: How to Respond to Violence
• The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, 1963

High School Students

• Milestones in African American History, 1865–2020

Book Breaks

Book Breaks is a free weekly public program where hosts interview scholars about their new books.

• The Three Mothers: How the Mothers of Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and James Baldwin Shaped a Nation by Anna Malaika Tubbs
• King: A Life by Jonathan Eig
• Saying It Loud: 1966―The Year Black Power Challenged the Civil Rights Movement by Mark Whitaker
• We Are the Leaders We Have Been Looking For by Eddie Glaude Jr.

Inside the Vault

Inside the Vault highlights unique primary sources from the Gilder Lehrman Collection each month.

• Eleanor Roosevelt, “Four Basic Rights,” and Desegregation
• Jackie Robinson
• The March on Washington
• “Your future rests… in your hands!”

Hamilton Cast Read Alongs

Hamilton Cast Read Alongs is a program featuring Hamilton cast members reading award-winning children’s books, followed by a discussion of the history behind the story led by Gilder Lehrman Master Teacher Keisha Rembert.

• “Martin & Anne: The Kindred Spirits of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Anne Frank” by Nancy Churnin (Author) and Yevgenia Nayberg (Illustrator); read by Daniel Yearwood
• “Memphis, Martin, and the Mountaintop: The Sanitation Strike of 1968” by Alice Faye Duncan (Author) and R. Gregory Christie (Illustrator); read by Sabrina Sloan