SummaryThis biography follows the dramatic life story of one of the world’s most famous campaigners for peace. The writer has divided the story into the events that first brought Martin Luther King, Jr. to the civil rights movement and the many episodes on the road to a better life for blacks in America.
Pages 1–7: In 1963, more than 250,000 people listened as Martin Luther King, Jr. gave one of the most famous speeches in American history. He spoke of his dream that one day black and white children will be sisters and brothers.
Born in 1929 into a comfortable home in the southern United States, King first learned about the importance of skin color when he was five years old and could not go to the same school as his white friend. King’s grandfather and father were both preachers and religion was important in his early life. At fifteen, after some indecision, he decided to become a preacher. He went to the North to study and graduated as Dr. Martin Luther King in 1955. He was tempted to stay in the North but, at 25, decided to move back to the segregationist South, to Montgomery, Alabama, to help the poor black people there. King’s opinions of white people began to change. As a student in the South, he experienced racism, which made him angry, but found that in the North relations between blacks and whites were better. He also became influenced by the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi.
The book describes the origins of slavery in America and how the North and South of the United States came to have very different attitudes to blacks. The first Europeans in America brought slaves from Africa to work
on their big farms in the South. Many people in the North hated slavery but it did not end until 1865, after a civil war between the North and South. African-Americans were free after the war, but were poor and could not read or write. In the South, ‘Jim Crow’ laws were passed to segregate black people from white people. In 1909, the NAACP was formed to fight these laws. In 1954, segregated schools were made illegal, which angered many white people in the South. But more was needed to be done to end segregation.
Pages 8–14: King married Coretta Scott, a music student, in 1953. He persuaded her to return to the South. In 1955, he became president of the MIA, a black organization in Montgomery, Alabama, that fought segregation.
King’s public life began in 1955 with the Montgomery bus boycott. Rosa Parks, an African-American, refused to give her seat on a bus to a white passenger. She was arrested. King, the MIA and others began a boycott of city buses which became nationally famous. The Ku Klux Klan firebombed King’s home, but in 1956, the US government made segregation on buses illegal.
King was influenced by Thoreau, who said that sometimes laws are not right and honest people must break them; and by Gandhi, who said people should fight violence with peace.
Pages 15–21: King began to teach non-violent resistance to his followers. He traveled to Africa, started making speeches all over America and fought to stop segregation in schools. Violent acts were committed against African-Americans, and politicians were divided about segregation. Inspired by King, students around the South began protests. In 1960, King joined one such protest and was sent to prison. John F. Kennedy, who was running for President, offered to help and King was freed.
Violence continued between blacks and whites in the South as blacks tried to challenge segregationist policies with direct action. Freedom Riders rode buses in the South to protest segregation. They were often beaten and buses were burned but in 1961, segregation in bus stations became illegal.
Pages 22–29: Politicians in the South tried to continue segregation in high schools and colleges. From jail in Birmingham, Alabama, King wrote a famous letter
explaining why black people were fighting segregation. After his release, thousands of children marched in Birmingham. The police attacked them with water and dogs, which shocked America and attracted the world’s attention. President Kennedy supported King and began to draw up a civil rights bill.
Then there was the march on Washington. It drew a crowd of more than 200,000 marchers including 50,000 whites, and it is where King gave his famous “I have a dream” speech. In 1964, King won the Nobel Peace Prize.
Pages 30–41: King began to fight for voting rights for African-Americans. His arrest in Selma, Alabama in 1965, was reported in newspapers and on television across the country. More protest marches and more violence followed. Finally, President Johnson signed a new Voting Rights law, as King and Rosa Parks stood beside him.
Some gains had been made, but many African-Americans still lived in terrible poverty. As they became radicalized, they stopped listening to King’s message of non-violent protest. New leaders, such as Malcolm X and Stokely Carmichael, told them to fight for their freedom. This anger culminated in the Watts riots in Los Angeles in 1965.
In 1968, King made his last speech in front of an audience in Memphis. The next evening he was shot dead in a parking lot. Blacks have equal political and voting rights today, thanks to the work of Martin Luther King at the head of the civil rights campaign. On Martin Luther King Day every year, Americans celebrate African-American history and remember King and his message of equality.
Background and themes
Dedication to a cause: This biography shows that Martin Luther King, Jr. dedicated his life to his cause, and although he had a wife and four children, his time was not his own. The cause of civil rights for African-Americans was so big and his campaigns made it so active, that he could never rest. He lived a very public life in front of the world’s press. His heart, mind and actions were ruled by his religious and political beliefs; he was driven. Other protest leaders who have given up their lives to their cause include Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela and Aung San Suu Kyi in Burma, who has left her family and children in England to fight for democracy in her country.
Non-violence: The central theme of King’s campaign for civil rights was non-violence. It worked better for King in the US than it did for Gandhi in India, where independence was accompanied by terrible fighting between Muslims and Hindus. There are lots of examples in King’s campaign of non-violent protest working. His campaign brought huge publicity and because King taught blacks to meet the whites with love, not hate, it made the whites look silly and evil in the eyes of the world. For example, when students organized lunchtime protests (see page 18), the world saw white men arresting peaceful blacks because they sat in the wrong seats in a lunch bar in Woolworth’s. When children marched in Birmingham, Alabama (see page 24), police used water cannons and dogs against them, arrested them and put them in jail.
Publicity: Another important weapon in King’s fight against injustice was publicity. For many poor blacks, life was simply a struggle to feed their families and keep a place to live. King needed to reach all those people and show them that their lives could be better. He made speeches all over America. He held meetings. When he was arrested, it made world news.. Black African-Americans became radicalized and wanted to fight. Some went further than King intended, and used violence, as in the 1965 Watts riots in Los Angeles. But he taught them that they could change things. Publicity then included posters, newspapers, meetings, word of mouth, marches, demonstrations, radio, and early television.
Racism: The central wrongdoing of this story is racism. The belief by one race that they are better than another or that they can rule another is behind much human conflict. The early slave traders treated black people as animals. It has taken centuries for most whites to stop believing they are superior to blacks. Many whites today still believe they are superior to blacks, in many parts of the world, Racism exists in more or less extreme forms in most cultures, and is one of the most pressing issues in world politics today.
Discussion activities
Before reading1 Discuss: Ask the class to tell you anything they know
about African-American history. Ask students to come up to the board and write a name, a date, or a fact relating to African-American history. Encourage students to mention slavery, the American Civil War, segregation, civil rights, etc.
IntroductionAfter reading2 Discuss: When students have read the Introduction
(page iv) read out these sentences and ask the students to say if they are true or false. If they are false, ask students to say the correct sentence.
a Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday is a national day in the USA.
b African-Americans suffered because of laws in the American North.
c Segregation means that a black person can sit next to a white person on the bus.
d King wanted all protests and marches to be violent. e King’s dream was for a better world for everyone.
Pages 1–7After reading3 Role play: Students work in small groups. Ask each
group to choose one of these scenes and prepare to act it out in front of the class. Encourage students to include both dialogue and action in their role play.
• King is a young boy. He has just been told to stop playing with the little white boy by the white boy’s parents. Now he is at home. King’s parents are now explaining to him how difficult life is for black people in the US.
• King is fifteen. He has started to question the church’s teachings. He is telling his father, Daddy King, that he does not want to become a preacher. His father is not happy about this.
• King is seventeen. He has just preached for the first time in his father’s church. He was nervous but he was a success. Now he is talking to Daddy King, who is proud of him.
4 Discuss: Divide the class into groups to discuss these questions.
Imagine you are King just after he graduated from college in Boston. Would you stay in the North or would you return to the South? Why?
5 Write: Ask students to imagine they are living in the US in 1953. They should write a letter to a newspaper about the Jim Crow laws in the South. What are some examples of these laws? Why are they wrong? What are the results of these laws? What can people do to change them?
Pages 8–14After reading6 Discuss and write: Ask students to read about
Rosa Parks on page 10 again. Put them into pairs. Tell them to imagine they are young reporters on Montgomery newspapers. Half of the pairs work for a white newspaper. The other half work for a black
newspaper. They prepare their reports. Compare reports across the class, looking at ways students have used to express bias and give only one side of the story.
7 Discuss: Ask students to discuss these questions in small groups.
Why was the Montgomery bus boycott successful? Do you know about any other boycotts? Do you think boycotts are usually successful? Why or why not?
Pages 15–21After reading8 Discuss and write: Put students in pairs or small
groups. Give each pair one of the following episodes in the story. Ask them to summarize it in two or three sentences and then read their summary to the class:
King’s trip to Ghana, p. 15; King’s arrest on September 3, 1958, pages 16–17; Rich’s lunch bar p. 18; the vote for US president, November 1960; the May 15 Freedom Ride p. 20.
9 Write: Imagine you were on the Freedom Ride bus on May 15 near Anniston, Alabama. Write a few sentences to someone in your family about what happened. How did you feel? What did you do?
Pages 22–29After reading10 Discuss: Divide the class into groups to discuss these
questions. King wrote a letter from Birmingham jail. Who was
he writing to? Why did some white people want black people to “wait”? Why did King say that it was difficult for black people to wait?
11 Write: Ask students to write in one or two sentences why they think the following things were important in the campaign against segregation.
Little Rock High School, p. 22; the children’s march, pages 24–25; the march on Washington, pages 27–28; the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, p. 28.
Pages 30–41After reading12 Discuss: The story of Martin Luther King, Jr. is the
story of the fight by African-Americans to change a racist society into a non-racist society. Ask students to think about why we have racism and where it comes from. Invite them to talk about racism in their own culture. Have they experienced racism themselves? What is the best way to respond to racism?
13 Discuss: Martin Luther King, Jr. was a hero to young black people in the 1950s and 1960s. Who are today’s heroes? What battles do they need to fight in today’s world?
Activity worksheetslevel 3 Teacher Support Programme
While readingPages 1–71 Look through this section of the book quickly.
Find the dates in the box and match them with the things that happened.
1807 1865 1896 February 15, 1948 May 16, 1954 December 1, 1955 December 1955 August 28, 1963
a King became a preacher. ……………… b King made his ‘I have a dream’ speech.
……………… c The United States passed a law that accepted
segregation in all states. ……………… d Rosa Parks was arrested on the bus in
Montgomery, Alabama. ……………… e Slave ships became illegal in America.
……………… f Segregation in United States schools became
illegal. ……………… g Slavery ended in the United States.
……………… h The civil rights campaign in the United States
began. ………………
2 Choose the correct answer. a King missed two grades in school because ….. 1) he travelled with his father. 2) he had to go to a school for black
children. 3) he did very well in school. b King finally decided to become a preacher
because of ….. 1) Dr Mays. 2) Daddy King. 3) his mother. c King’s opinions about white people changed
because ….. 1) white people in the South were kind to
him. 2) he studied the ideas of an Indian teacher. 3) he was voted president of his class. d Slaves were brought to America because
white people needed ….. 1) farm workers. 2) workers on ships. 3) workers in the North.
3 Complete these sentences with a word from the box.
black changed free poor white
After the North won the war, African-Americans in the South were finally (a) …………… but they were very (b) …………… Jim Crow laws did not let (c) …………… people go to (d) …………… schools. African-Americans organized the NAACP because they thought the Jim Crow laws had to be (e) …………… .
Pages 8–14 4 Answer these questions. a What job did Coretta Scott have before she
married King? b What job did she have after they were
married? c Why did she return to the South with Martin? d How many children did she and Martin have? e Why was she worried about Martin?
5 Why do you think Rosa Parks refused to give her seat to a white passenger? Talk with a friend or write a paragraph with your own ideas.
6 Which of the following were for the Montgomery bus boycott? Which were against?
the bus company the KKK the black taxi companies the politicians the MIA the police world opinion
7 Answer these questions. a Why did Henry Thoreau refuse to pay money
on his earnings to the US government? b What did Mahatma Gandhi help to win with
his peaceful protests?
Pages 15–218 What happened first? Put the sentences in the
right order and number them, 1–10. a c King and his wife see suffering in Nigeria. b c King and Abernathy visit Richard Nixon. c c King appears on the cover of Time
magazine. d c A black woman tries to kill King. e c Ralph Abernathy’s house is bombed. f c King and other black leaders start the
Activity worksheetslevel 3 Teacher Support Programme
g c King chooses to spend two weeks in jail. h c King tries to speak to Abernathy in a
court room. i c President Eisenhower refuses to help King. j c King and his wife fly to Ghana.
9 Answer these questions. a Why were King’s arrests “good for his
campaign”? b Why were King and the students given steak
for their first meal in prison in October 1960? c Why was King worried when he was taken to
Reidsville State Prison? d Why didn’t King help John F. Kennedy’s
campaign for president?
Pages 22–2910 Find the right name. a The President of the United States in 1962 ….. b A Birmingham preacher ….. c An African-American student ….. d Police chief, Birmingham, Alabama ….. e State leader, Alabama ….. f State leader, Arkansas ….. g A politician in Washington, D.C. ….. 1) Bull Connor 2) Fred Shuttlesworth 3) George Wallace 4) John F. Kennedy 5) James Meredith 6) Robert Kennedy 7) Orval Faubus
11 Answer these questions. a Why did President Eisenhower send soldiers
to Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1957? b In King’s letter from Birmingham Jail, what
does “Wait!” mean for black people? c What did people think when they saw U.S.
policemen and dogs attack black children on a protest march?
d Why was John F. Kennedy worried about this civil rights bill?
e How many whites joined the march on Washington?
f Two terrible things followed King’s “I have a dream” speech in August 1963. What were they?
g Why was Dr Mays’ big dinner part of King’s dream?
Pages 30–4112 What happened first? Put the sentences in the
right order and number them, 1–8. a c King meets President Johnson. b c King and 400 people march to a Selma
courthouse. c c King asks protesters around the country
to come to Selma. d c President Johnson promises to give all
Americans voting rights. e c Police arrest King, Abernathy and
hundreds of marchers. f c King writes a letter from Selma Jail. g c President Johnson asks his government to
pass the Voting Rights law. h c An African-American protester is killed in
front of his parents.
13 Complete these sentences with a word from the box.
defend end get give listen riot work
a By the middle of the 1960s, many African-Americans did not ……………… to King any more.
b Malcolm X said that blacks should ……………… themselves against the white enemy.
c Stokely Carmichael thought that black people and white people could not ……………… together.
d King did not want people to ……………… in the streets.
e King wanted President Johnson to ……………… the war in Vietnam.
f King also wanted President Johnson to ……………… jobs to poor people.
g President Johnson wanted to ……………… information about King’s private life.
14 There are mistakes in these sentences. Write the correct information.
a The day before he died, King spoke to workers who wanted more education.
b King was killed outside a church. c There were no riots when Americans heard
that King was dead. d Only a few people watched King’s funeral on
television. e King’s killer was sent to prison for a year.
1 Complete the sentences with a word from the box.
books church cloth college gun nameseats speech
a King changed his ……………… the night before he spoke in Washington, D.C.
b King’s father changed his ……………… after a trip to Germany.
c King loved sports and ……………… when he was in school.
d King graduated from a ……………… in the North in 1951.
e King’s first job was at a ……………… in Montgomery, Alabama.
f After he won a prize for a speech, the young King and a teacher were told to give their ……………… to white people.
g On a train, a waiter put a ……………… in front of King’s face because he was black.
h After he read Gandhi, King could talk calmly to a white student who had a ……………… .
2 Write right (✓) or wrong (✗) or it does not say (?)a King’s father did not want his son to feel
like a slave. c
b Slavery in America ended when slave ships were made illegal. c
c After 1865, African-Americans wanted to go to the North. c
d W.E.B. DuBois was against the Jim Crow laws. c
e After 1954, there was no more segregation in the US. c
f The US government decided to help black soldiers buy houses. c
g Ralph Abernathy helped King organize the MIA. c
3 There are mistakes in these sentences. Write the correct information.a King met Coretta Scott in Montgomery.b After she married King, Coretta taught and gave
the money to the civil rights campaign.c On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks gave her seat to
a white person on the bus.d The KKK was an organization in the South which
helped black people.
e Thoreau was an American lawyer who refused to obey laws that he did not agree with.
f Gandhi was an Indian who studied law and believed in violent protest.
4 Complete these sentences. a In 1957, an African leader invited King to visit the
country of ……………………………………… .b King was attacked in a New York ………………. .c Judge Mitchell tried to keep King in ……………. .d In 1960, King’s father asked people to vote for
………………………………………………….. .e The Freedom Riders rode buses in the South and
sat in ……………………………………………. .f On May 19, 1961, King was worried because people
outside Abernathy’s church were throwing ………………………………………………….. .
g After King phoned him, Robert Kennedy promised to send more ……………………………………. .
5 Are these sentences true (T) or false (F)? Correct the false ones.a King wrote his letter from Birmingham jail
to a group of white policemen. c
b During the Children’s March, children were attacked with water and dogs. c
c There were more than 200,000 black marchers in the March on Washington. c
d The men who bombed the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church were sent to prison quickly. c
e At 35, King became the youngest winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. c
6 Underline the correct words.a King asked to put 400 African-Americans
in white schools / on the voting list in Selma, Alabama.
b On “Bloody Sunday”, the violence by police / protesters in Selma was reported around the country.
c King spoke about voting rights on the steps of the courthouse / state building in Montgomery, Alabama.
d Malcolm X was against / for King’s peaceful protests. e Stokely Carmichael became the leader of the
Freedom Riders / the SNCC.f King said that the riot in Watts happened because
people were against the war / poor and hopeless.g There were more riots / wars in the summer of
Book key1 a civil rights, freedom, peace, voting rights b boycott, demonstrate, march, protest, riot
(also, possibly, bomb, violence) 2 a no b yes c no3 Open answers4 a Washington, D.C. b Daddy King (Martin Luther King’s father) c Atlanta d Montgomery (Alabama) e Connecticut5 a 1620 b 1807 b 1861–65 d 1896 e 1909 f 1954 g 19556–9 Open answers10 a ✓ b ✗ c ✓ d ✓ e ✓ f ✗ g ✗ 11 a Mrs. Parks was arrested for refusing to give her seat
to a white person. b Martin Luther King joined the boycotters in jail. c Segregation on buses in the United States became
illegal.12–14 Open answers15 a 3 b 4 c 2 d 1 e 516 ✓: b, c, e17 a King said this to the people in his church because
he was very worried. He was prepared to die for his people.
b A guard at the court room said this to King because King tried to get inside. King wanted to speak to Abernathy.
c King thought this because the police were driving him 500 kilometers through dark country roads in the early hours of the morning.
d Daddy King said this to the people at Ebenezer Church because he was grateful to JFK for his help.
18 a After he talked to the judge, King was freed on bail. b He sent soldiers to stop the segregationists’ attack
on the Freedom Riders. c They moved people out of a church where
segregationists were becoming violent.19–20 Open answers21 a nine b riot c King’s d demonstrations e police 22 ✓: a, c, e
23 a He was the state leader of Alabama and he promised to continue segregation in the state colleges.
b The SCLC organized protest marches for the civil rights campaign. It held important discussions with business and church leaders.
c He was Birmingham’s police chief and a segregationist. He gave orders to the police to arrest and attack black children.
24 Open answers 25 a Selma, Alabama b Montgomery, Alabama c Washington, D.C. d South Vietnam e Watts, in Los Angeles f Chicago g Memphis, Tennessee h Memphis 26 a This made King happy because black people finally
won the right to vote. b This worried King because he did not believe in
violence. c This worried King because he did not want more
riots and violence. d This worried King because he did not believe in the
use of violence. The money was needed for houses for poor people in the U.S.
e This made King happy. He and black Americans will die and go to the Promised Land.
27–34 Open answers
Discussion activities key1 Open answers2 a True b African-Americans suffered because of laws in the
American South. c Segregation means that a black person cannot sit
next to a white person on the bus. d King wanted all protests and marches to be
non-violent. e True3–13 Open answers
Activity worksheets key1 a February 15, 1948 b August 28, 1963 c 1896 d December 1, 1955 e 1807 f May 16, 1954 g 1865 h December 1955
2 a 3 b 1 c 2 d 13 a free b poor c black d white e changed4 a She was a singer. b She was King’s secretary. c Because King’s work was important. d Four. e Because people wanted to kill him.5 Open answers6 The black taxi companies, the MIA and world opinion
were for the boycott. The bus company, the KKK, the politicians and the police were against the boycott.
7 a Because he didn’t agree with the U.S. war with Mexico.
b Freedom from British rule. 8 a 3 b 5 c 7 d 10 e 1 f 6 g 9 h 8 i 4 j 29 a Because the newspapers always wrote about it. b Because the world was watching. c Because it was a prison for the worst criminals. d He said he wasn’t a politician. 10 a 4 b 2 c 5 d 1 e 3 f 7 g 611 a Because Orval Faubus, state leader, was breaking
the law. b “Never!” c They could not believe their eyes. d He did not want another war between the South
and the North in America. e About 50,000. f John F. Kennedy was shot dead. The KKK murdered
four young school girls in a church in Birmingham. g Because black and white city leaders sat down and
ate together.12 a 4 b 1 c 7 d 3 e 2 f 5 g 8 h 613 a listen b defend c work d riot e end f give g get14 a King spoke to workers who wanted higher pay on
the day before he died. b King was killed outside of a hotel. c There were riots in 110 cities when Americans
heard that King was dead. d One hundred and twenty million people watched
King’s funeral on television. e King’s killer was sent to prison for thirty years.
Progress test key1 a speech b name c books d college e church f seats g cloth h gun2 a ✓ b ✗ c ? d ✓ e ✗ f ✗ g ?3 a King met Coretta Scott in Boston. b After she married King, Coretta sang and gave the
money to the civil rights campaign. c On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks did not give her
seat to a white person on the bus. d The KKK was an organization in the South which
attacked black people. e Thoreau was an American writer who refused to
obey laws that he did not agree with. f Gandhi was an Indian who studied law and believed
in peaceful protest. 4 a Ghana b bookstore c prison d John F. Kennedy (JFK) e “Whites only” seats f rocks g soldiers5 a F – King wrote the letter to a group of white
preachers. b T c F – There were more than 200,000 marchers and
almost one quarter were white. d F – They were not sent to prison for many years. e T6 a on the voting list b police c state building d against e the SNCC f poor and hopeless g riots
