McGraw Hill Education has announced its new American and World History textbook series, including the new curriculum Civil Rights: A Global Perspective. This curriculum was authored in part by IWP’s Professor Dr. Matt Daniels.
About the curriculum
Civil Rights: A Global Perspective addresses the rising violence present in the United States by examining the principles of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The curriculum focuses on Dr. King’s unifying, non-violent principles rooted in American founding principles and the promotion of inalienable, universal rights for all humanity. Students come away from the program inspired to advocate for Dr. King’s dream, with means and ends grounded in timeless and universal natural law principles.
The program provides 6th grade and high school students with the tools and knowledge to become effective citizens and proponents of human dignity. The online-only curriculum reinforces the nonviolent principles of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. through both primary and secondary sources. The curriculum’s 75 lessons promote empathy, diversity, and civic responsibility through 5 principles: freedom, perseverance, hope, justice, and conscience. A series of key texts by figures such as Sojourner Truth, Mahatma Gandhi, Malala Yousafzai, and Dr. King himself instills these principles throughout the curriculum. Students also prepare projects throughout the program to help them retain and build on their knowledge of civil rights.
Dr. Daniels first launched the MLK Curriculum in October of 2020 with Bethune-Cookman University’s Anthony Jones, M.Ed., when it was adopted by some localities in Tennessee and Arkansas. Their hope is that the curriculum promotes a new generation of civil rights campaigners inspired by the ideas of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Additional comments by both Dr. Matt Daniels and Anthony Jones were featured in The Dallas Morning News, The Post and Courier, and USA Today.
Endorsements
The curriculum’s efforts to teach the non-violent principles of Dr. King have been endorsed by a variety of individuals and institutions, including educational leaders in the African American community, leading HBCUs, Howard University faculty, leaders of state MLK Commissions, and Black History Commissions. Multiple governors, state school boards, and commissioners of education, as well as half a dozen independent state private school associations, have also voiced their support for the program.
Below are comments from David Hillinck, a history teacher at the Randolph School in Huntsville, Alabama, and Amb. Andrew Young, a civil rights leader and former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations.
“Civil Rights—Our Global Lineage aims straight for the vibrant center of the American reform tradition, and places Dr. King squarely into that framework. The historical emphasis on non-violent, broad-based coalition building distinguishes the curriculum from some recent efforts to portray the Civil Rights Movement as part of a more radical effort to reject the founding traditions of natural rights and limited government. By focusing on key pillars of King’s values-driven approach, Our Global Lineage teaches important lessons about how to seek change while respecting different views. It offers a helpful guide to teaching civic dialogue in our deeply divided times.”
-David Hillinck
“The innovative curricula created by Dr. Matthew Daniels and Anthony Jones are an investment in future leaders, who like Dr. King himself, embody the unifying ideals of justice and compassion that were the driving engine of the civil rights movement in America.”
-Amb. Andrew Young
About Dr. Matt Daniels
Dr. Daniels holds the Chair of Law and Human Rights at IWP and is the founder of the Institute’s Center for Human Rights and International Affairs. He teaches a course on Human Rights and Counter-Radicalization.