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Abstract
By conducting photo elicitation interviews with twenty-seven U.S. high school students, this dissertation study explores what aspects of Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK) and the Civil Rights movement the students thought were important to commemorate on MLK Day, and why they thought so. Students in this study attempted to add more diversity and complexity to the simplistic version of the Civil Rights story that they had already heard by including a wide range of people for whom MLK advocated and who joined the Civil Rights movement. Yet, there were variations in students ideas about who should be included as well as in their intentions for making such inclusions. In addition, while all students acknowledged the importance of presenting MLKs achievements and the unity of protesters, not all students chose to include the episodes of struggle and violence. In justifying their embrace of the dark side of the Civil Rights story, Black students voices were more civic than moral in that they described the struggle as a process of democratic social change. Meanwhile, some Asian, Hispanic, and White students used mainly moral voices, focusing on the suffering of the victims. The key findings of this study imply that students identities can help explain many of the differences in their reactions to multi-dimensional aspects of MLK/the Civil Rights movement, while some of the differences can be considered to stem from individual rather than group characteristics, according to an individuals exposure to different discourses. Furthermore, the findings regarding students tactical intentions of including diverse actors encourage researchers to see students ideas as evolving in a particular context rather than remaining static or uni-dimensional. I also suggest that although it seems almost impossible to satisfy diverse students different learning needs, educators can gain from this dissertation meaningful insights into how the curriculum can be more inclusive and relevant to students lives as well as more ethical. In addition, the findings of this study suggest that educators reflect on their representations of racial violence committed during the Civil Rights movement from the perspectives of students, particularly of Black students.