Robert Kennedy’s Announcement of the Death of Martin
Luther King
HS / Social Studies
Community, Compassion, Forgiveness, Revenge, Violence
Display a photo of Robert Kennedy delivering his announcement of the death of Martin
Luther King on the night of April 4, 1968. Based only on the photo, discuss with the
entire class the possible mood of the moment and the tone of Kennedy’s remarks. Have
students write a brief synopsis of what each thinks Kennedy might be saying based on
the photo.
Distribute the text and ask students to speculate about what it might contain, given only
the title. Have students number the paragraphs in the text (1-9). Then have students
take turns, paragraph by paragraph, reading the text aloud while the entire class
highlights any unfamiliar words or phrases.
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Share during the week prior to the seminar: During the tragic time surrounding the
assassination of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. on April 4, 1968, an extraordinary
moment in U.S. political history occurred as Robert F. Kennedy, younger brother of slain
President John F. Kennedy, broke the news of King’s death to a large gathering of
African Americans in Indianapolis, Indiana.
The gathering was actually a planned campaign rally for Robert Kennedy in his bid to
get the 1968 Democratic nomination for President. Just after he arrived in Indianapolis,
Kennedy was told of King’s death. He was advised by police against making the
campaign stop which was in a part of the city considered to be a dangerous ghetto. But
Kennedy insisted on going.
He arrived to find the people in the crowed in an upbeat mood, anticipating the
excitement of a Kennedy appearance. He climbed onto the back of a flatbed truck, and
realizing they did not know about King’s death, broke the news.
Work with students to create a master list of any unfamiliar vocabulary from the text.
Assign these terms to small groups of students to define using available resources.
Then work through the text paragraph by paragraph and discuss all unfamiliar
vocabulary, stressing contextual meaning.
Play the video of Kennedy’s speech (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoKzCff8Zbs )
and give students time to discuss the context and setting of the speech. Then divide the
class up into nine small groups and have them identify one key word from each of the
nine paragraphs in the speech. Display these nine words on the (interactive) white
board and discuss as a whole group what a speech that features these words might
focus on.
Note: the seminar text is based on Kennedy’s remarks (for which there is no formal
written version) and varies slightly from the video recording.
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 What single sentence of Kennedy’s speech do you find most memorable?
(round-robin response)
 Why did you choose that sentence? (spontaneous discussion)
 What do you think Kennedy meant when he said, “In this difficult day, in
this difficult time for the United States, it is perhaps well to ask what kind
of a nation we are and what direction we want to move in”?
 What ironies do you see in Kennedy’s statement that “Martin Luther King
dedicated his life to love and to justice for his fellow human beings, and he
died because of that effort”? How are these ironies reflected in the rest of
Kennedy’s speech?
 Why do you think Kennedy ended his remarks with a classical quote: “to
tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life of this world”?
 Now that you have studied Kennedy’s speech, do you think it wise that he
decided to appear in Indianapolis that night? Why or why not?
 Robert Kennedy himself was shot and killed later in the same political
campaign. If he were alive today, what do you think he would say about
the current status of peace versus violence in American life? Why?
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Display the five Ideas and Values that are at the core of this literacy cycle: community,
compassion, forgiveness, revenge, and violence. Ask students to take notes on what
they said, heard, and thought during the seminar about these concepts.
In what ways are Robert Kennedy’s remarks following King’s assassination still relevant
today? After reading and discussing “Robert Kennedy’s announcement of the Death of
Martin Luther King,” write an open letter to Kennedy from the perspective of a young
person living in America today. (Narrative/Description)
(LDC Task#:
27
)
Invite participants to talk in pairs for two minutes to share thoughts about what the
writing task is asking. Discuss as an entire class the nature of an “open letter” and note
that these will be submitted as a guest editorial to the local newspaper.
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Allow a few minutes for all to draft an outline for their writing and refine their thinking.
Provide students with one or more possible organizational templates as needed.
Challenge all to draft their letters by writing the paragraphs defined by their outlines.
Refer to Kennedy’s original speech in order to illustrate key points.
Have participants work in pairs to read their first drafts aloud to each other with
emphasis on reader as creator and editor. Listener says back one point heard clearly
and asks one question for clarification. Switch roles. Give time for full revisions resulting
in a second draft.
Once the second draft is complete, have participants work in groups of three-four and
this time take turns reading each other’s second drafts slowly and silently, marking any
spelling or grammar errors they find. (Have dictionaries and grammar handbooks
available for reference.) Take this opportunity to clarify/reteach any specific grammar
strategies you have identified your students needing. Give time for full revisions
resulting in a third and final draft.
Display the student letters in your classroom or school along with the text of the original
speech. Collect and submit the letters to the local newspaper as a collective guest
editorial. Invite public reply and discussion both through the newspaper and (if possible)
through public discussion.
Terry Roberts
National Paideia Center
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Robert Kennedy’s Announcement of the
Death of Martin Luther King
I have bad news for you, for all of our fellow citizens, and people who love peace all
over the world, and that is that Martin Luther King was shot and killed tonight.
Martin Luther King dedicated his life to love and to justice for his fellow human
beings, and he died because of that effort.
In this difficult day, in this difficult time for the United States, it is perhaps well to ask
what kind of a nation we are and what direction we want to move in. . . . we can make
an effort, as Martin Luther King did, to understand and to comprehend, and to replace
that violence, that stain of blood shed that has spread across our land, with an effort to
understand with compassion and love. . . . . But we have to make an effort in the United
States, we have to make an effort to understand, to go beyond these rather difficult
times.
What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is
not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence or lawlessness; but love
and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice toward those
who still suffer within our country, whether they be white or they be black.
So I shall ask you tonight to return home, to say a prayer for the family of Martin
Luther King, that’s true, but more importantly, to say a prayer for our own country,
which all of us love—a prayer for understanding and that compassion of which I
spoke.
We can do well in this country. We will have difficult times; we’ve had difficult times in
the past; we will have difficult times in the future. It is not the end of violence; it is not the
end of lawlessness; it is not the end of disorder.
But the vast majority of white people and the vast majority of black people in this
country want to live together, want to improve the quality of our life, and want justice
for all human beings who abide in our land.
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Let us dedicate ourselves to what the Greeks wrote so many years ago: to tame the
savageness of man and make gentle the life of this world.
Let us dedicate ourselves to that, and say a prayer for our country and for our
people.
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