DALTON, Ga. — Ana Goodlett’s third-graders at Roan School learned about Martin Luther King Jr. last week in advance of today’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Over the years, Goodlett has made a habit of carving out time for her students to learn about the civil rights icon because he was “an important figure,” she said. “They ought to learn that.”

King’s father was also a preacher, and the younger King began his heroic journey by addressing inequality from his pulpit, Tom Pinson, director of the Mack Gaston Community Center, told the students. “He wanted people to be treated equally and fairly.”

Pinson explained to the students that while “you can go to any Taco Bell you want” now, that wasn’t always the case; before the civil rights revolution — of which King was at the vanguard — “you couldn’t go to any Taco Bell.”

In that era, African Americans also had to drink from different water fountains, and they had to sit upstairs in their own section at movie theaters, Tyree Goodlett, a member of Dalton’s City Council and the husband of Ana Goodlett, told the class. King battled to end those inequalities — he was even jailed for his beliefs — and he routinely sacrificed “for generations to come.”

Pinson has “always been fascinated by him and his sacrifices for others,” he said. King’s story “shows you can change things nonviolently.”

And that’s critical for youth to understand, Ana Goodlett said. “You don’t have to fight; you can make a peaceful statement.”

Tyree Goodlett wants students to know “you need representation,” he said. King was able to enact change because “he had a seat at the table.”

Of course, the only way to gain such prominence is to “get involved,” he said. That’s why he ran for City Council.

Indeed, his dream was to win a spot on the council and “make life better for people in this city,” he said. He is the first African American elected to Dalton’s City Council, and even though he’s been a member for four years, “I’m still soaking up information.”

Prior to the tidal wave of civil rights advancements unleashed by King, whites sometimes refused to sell houses to African Americans, essentially telling them “you don’t belong” in this neighborhood, said Ana Goodlett. Schools were segregated, and “kids (of different races) weren’t even able to play together.”

Though Martin Luther King Jr. Day is observed today, his birthday is Jan. 15, Tyree Goodlett told the class. King won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 for his nonviolent marches, and his “I Have a Dream” speech is “one of the greatest in American history.”

Tyree Goodlett encouraged the students to visit The King Center in Atlanta, as he’s done with his own family. He also assigned some homework to the students — complete pamphlets with reading, writing, drawing, vocabulary and comprehension questions regarding King — and he vowed to reward them with a party if they all returned their sheets within a week.

“If you find a book on (King) in the library, get it, and learn about him,” Pinson advised the students. A brilliant student, King skipped both the ninth and 12th grades, enrolling in college at age 15.

Pinson also noted that King had plenty of assistance from others in his civil rights effort, including the likes of Rosa Parks, whose refusal to give up her seat on a bus to a white man led to the Montgomery, Alabama, bus boycott, and his wife, Coretta Scott, who was “a huge help” to King.

There’s a lesson in there for everyone, including third-graders, Pinson said. “If you want changes, don’t go by yourself.”

“Get a whole group of people,” he added. “That’s what (King) did, and they marched with him” in solidarity.

Pinson shares King’s alma mater of Morehouse College, and his father marched on multiple occasions with the legendary activist, so the minister’s legacy was “something taught to me” as he grew up, he said. It’s paramount to keep that “tradition” alive.

Because of King and other civil rights leaders, “we can be together, sit together, and all be friends,” Ana Goodlett said. “We have to be grateful for that.”

King “definitely changed hearts, and he changed the world,” Pinson said. “The world is a better place because of him.”