SCDE Launches Initiative Empowering Students with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Message of Hope and Unity
August 31, 2024
The SC Department of Education (SCDE) is unveiling a new initiative to provide high-quality civics education resources to South Carolina teachers and students at no cost to local districts.
On August 28, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King delivered his “I Have a Dream Speech,” a watershed moment in the American Civil Rights movement. To commemorate the 61st anniversary of that speech, the SCDE is proud to announce a new partnership with McGraw Hill and the Good of All Foundation to provide South Carolina students with access to inspirational civics instruction grounded in Dr. King’s unifying message of hope and progress through non-violence.
Drawn from Dr. King’s own words, the Civil Rights: A Global Perspective curriculum is authored by Dr. Matt Daniels, Distinguished Professor of Law, Human Rights, and International Affairs, at South Carolina’s own Anderson University. Lessons on “Hope,” drawn from the curriculum, will be made available to all South Carolina high school teachers and students in the months ahead.
Commenting on the announcement, State Superintendent of Education Ellen Weaver shared:
“It is fitting that we announce this partnership on the anniversary of one our nation’s most iconic Civil Rights speeches. With only 44% of South Carolina high schoolers earning a passing grade on the U.S. History End of Course exam for the 2023-24 school year, it is imperative that we renew our focus on educating students prepared to assume the privileges and responsibilities that are our shared birthright as American citizens.
South Carolina played an outsized role in our nation’s founding sin of slavery but has also been the scene of some of our nation’s greatest acts of forgiveness and racial reconciliation. By presenting this full historical picture, we respond to Dr. King’s belief that ‘With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood.’”
