Martin Luther King and
the Montgomery Story
Curriculum and Study Guide


This curriculum and study guide was developed to help educators, community leaders, and organizers explore and connect with FOR’s 1957 comic book, Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story. Included in the guide are background readings, guiding and discussion questions, K-12 classroom lesson activities, and recommendations for additional reading and learning. All of these aim to deepen, complicate, and supplement the text of the comic book itself, as well as to highlight and ask questions about connections between the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the civil rights movement of the 1950s and '60s in the United States, and various global struggles — past and present — for peace and justice.
To order copies of the Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story comic book, click here.

Readings, Activities, and Resources
1. The Fellowship of Reconciliation: An Introduction
2. Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story: How a Comic Book Taught Lessons of the Civil Rights Movement
3. For K-12 Classroom Teachers: Connecting to U.S. and Internationally-Recognized Educational Standards
4. Notes to Educators and Facilitators
5. Questions to Guide Reading and Discussion of Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story
6. Classroom Activities for Middle School Students (Grades 5-8)
Getting to Know Graphic Novels & Comics: A Pre-Reading Activity
Think-Pair-Share on Bayard Rustin’s “Montgomery Diary”
Looking at the Civil Rights Movement Through a Microscope vs. a Telescope
Create Your Own Comic!
Young People Taking a Stand: From Claudette Colvin to Today
7. Classroom Activities for High School Students (Grades 9-12)
Using OPVL to Analyze Bayard Rustin’s Confidential Update from Montgomery
“Good Trouble”: Then and Now
Comparing Two Articles about #BlackLivesMatter
More Comic Books for Justice: Teaching Your Classmates with SNCC Voter Education Materials
Boycotts: Goals, Methods, and Challenges from the U.S. to South Africa to Israel-Palestine
8. Activities and Discussion Questions for Community Groups
9. Additional Recommended Materials for Teaching and Learning
10. Bibliography
11. Acknowledgements & Author Bio

Educators, organizers, and community leaders, we welcome your feedback as you use these materials and activities in your classrooms and communities. Please let us know here what you and your students think so that we can include your feedback in any future updates or revisions.

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