MartinLutherKING
Alan C. McLean
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1 A man from Alabama
In 1963 a Baptist minister fromAlabarna in the South of the United
States led a march of 250,000 people
to Washington, the nation's capital.
There he made a famous speech. '1
have a dream,' he said. He dreamed
of the day when black people and
white people would live together in
peace. The marchers cheered him.
Some cried. The speech was shownon television aU over the world. The
minister became famous. MiUions
of people loved this man.
Yet there were als o people who
hated this man. Less than five years
after his speech in Washington hewas shot dead.
When people heard of his death,there was much sadness. But there
was also anger. Black people in cities
like Chicago and Washington rioted.
They burned buildings and fought
the police. Many black people werekiUed in the se riots.
Fifteen years after his death,
the American government
made his birthday a national
holiday. Today he is
remembered as one of the greatest
Americans of the twentieth century.
Who was this man? Why did so
many people love him? Why didothers hate him?
This man's name was Martin
Luther King.
1
2
2 Growing up in Atlanta
Martin Luther King was born on 15
January 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia.His father was the minister of the
local church. The King family were
not poor. They lived in a good part
of Atlanta and they had enough
money to live comfortably. When
Martin thought about his childhood,
he remembered a loving family and a
friendly neighbourhood.
But the Kings were black and in
the South black people did not have
the same rights as white people.Blacks and whites lived in different
worlds. On buses in the South,blacks had to sit in the back of the
bus. They could not sit besidewhites. Most restaurants were closed
to black customers. There were
different schools for black and white
children. This way of keeping blacks
and whites away from each other
was called 'segregation'.Martin's father said that
segregation was wrong, but that
things would get better. He said that
white people would change. Black
people had to be patient and wait.
Change would come.
The young Martin did not agree
with his father. He had already
known racism. When he was very
small, he played with a little white
boy who lived across the street.
When Martin started school, he
looked for his friend, but he was not
at his school. After school, he went
to his friend's house. The boy'smother said that Martin could not
play with his friend any more,because he was black and his friend
was white.
When Martin came home that
day, he was crying. He told his
mother what had happened. 'Nomatter what the rest of world
thinks,' she told him, 'you're as good
as anyone else. Don't you ever forgetthat!'
Martin never forgot his mother's
words. But he saw how badly white
people treated black people inAtlanta.
Once when he was in town he
walked into a white woman. She hit
him on the face. When someone
asked why she had slapped him, the
woman replied, 'That little black
bastard stepped on my foot.' The
slap hurt Martin, but the name shecalled him hurt even more.
When he started high school
Martin began to speak in public. He
was used to speaking in church, butat school he talked about the need
for change in the South. When ~Martin was fourteen years old, he ~wan first prize in a speaking
competition. He went to Washington
to get his prize. On the way back to
Atlanta a white man gat on his bus.The bus was full and the driver
asked Martin to get up and give the
white man his seat. Martin refused.
Why should he give up his seat for
someone else, just because he was
white? The bus driver was angry andcalled him names. At la st Martin
gave up his seat because he did notwant to make trouble for his teacher.
But he was angry. He did not want
to hate white people, but it was hard
not to. He realized that things would
not get better unless black people
fought for their rights.
Segregation
A slave ship
4
3 Slavery and the South
In 1929 when Martin Luther King
was born in Atlanta, Georgia, most
black people in America lived in
the South. In every way their
lives were worse than the
lives of Southern whites.
They were poorer, they lived
in worse houses, their liveswere shorter. Most blacks in
the South could not vote.
Some black people whowere alive in 1929 had been
slaves. They had belonged
to their white owners. They
were treated like things, not
people. Slaves could be
bought and sold like housesor land.
Slavery was not new.
Thousands of years agothere were slaves in Rome
and Athens. They worked
on farms and in the houses
of rich people.But in the sixteenth
century people from
European countries like Britain,
Spain, and Portugal began to move
A slave market
into North and South
America.
Men and women were
taken from their homes in
Africa and brought to theAmericas to work on
farms and on roads.
Between 1500 and 1800
European ships to ok morethan twelve million slaves
from Africa to North and
South America. The sIaves
were crowded together on
the ships. They did not
have enough food, water,or air. Thousands of
Africans died on these
slave ships.When African sla ves
arrived in America, they were sold to
farmers. Of ten people from the same
Martin Luther King 5
same.
ended the buying and selling
of slaves in 1807. A yearlater America did the
But it was still possibleto own slaves. White slave
owners in the South of the
United States of America
refused to free their
slaves. And they were
ready to fight for their
right to own slaves.
family were sold to different owners. x II ~(tlves {Soo
~ ~'tvv ~./J>;
They never saw each other again. ~~~:~ .. dd
Most sl~ves were sold to land- '/ +~.-=~ Pil7Q ~77-hbowners III the South. They ~ /hworked on big farms. The
work was so hard that
many slaves died after a
few years. If slaves tried
to run away, they werebeaten and sometimes
killed.
Many slaves fought
against the slave-owners. In
1791 a slave called
Toussaint L'Ouverture
led an army of black
slaves against French
soldiers on the island
of Haiti. Toussaint
died in a French
prison, but in 1804
Haiti became the first
free black country.More and more
people in Europe
and America thought
that slavery was
wrong. Britain
Toussaint L'Ouverture
Abraham
Lincoln
6
4 War in America
Abraham Lincoln was elected
President of the United States in
1861. He wanted to end slave
owning in America. The
South wanted to keep theirslaves. The Southern
states decided to leave
the United States of
America
The North and South
went to war 1861. More
than 180,000 black soldiers
fought for the North. In five
years of terrible fighting, morethan haH amillion soldiers
were killed. The North won
the war and slavery in the
The Battle of Williamsburg, 1862
South was ended in 1865.
Now there were no more
black slaves in America.
But black people in theSouth did not have the
same rights as white
people. Blacks could
not go to whiteschools and there
were very few schoolsfor blacks. Blacks
could not go to the same
shops or resta urants as
whites. When blacks did try
to speak up for their rights,
they often faced whiteviolence. In the 1890s more
Martin Luther King 7
than 1,000 blacks were killed bywhites. Most blacks were too
frightened to tell the police. Manymoved to the cities of the North.
In the twentieth century, blacks
began to play a more important partin the life of America. New schools
and universities for blacks opened.
J azz, the music of black people,
became popular alI over the world.
Harlem, a black part of New York
City, bec ame the centre for black
music and black writers. The great
black runner, Jesse Owens, won goldmedals for America at the 1936
Olympic Games.
But once aga in the greatest
changes in the lives of black peoplecarne from a war. In 1941 America
Black soldiers in 1944
entered the Second World War. Black
soldiers fought bravely for their
country, but the American army was
segregated. Black soldiers did not
fight beside white soldiers. But blacksoldiers had seen countries where
black people had the same rights as
white people. When these black
soldiers returned to America, they
wanted equal rights for themselves.
World War II was a war against
racist ideas. Many whites in America
realized that their own country was
racist. Blacks began to vote and
white politicians began to listen to
them. Black people in America were
ready for some one to lead them
toward'S freedom and equality. They
were ready for Martin Luther King.
Jazz
8
5 Learning
When Martin was fifteen, he went to
Morehouse College in Atlanta. He
was a clever young man and he didweIl at school. Martin's father
wanted him to be a minister, but atfirst Martin said 'No'. He was
Non-violent protest
learning exciting new ideas from his
teachers at Morehouse. Perhaps he
would be a teacher himself one day?
But slowly Martin began to
change his mind. He would be a
minister like his father - but he
would be a teacher too. He went to a
college for ministers in Pennsylvania,
in the North. There were many white
students at the college, but they were
friendly to Martin. Martin realized
that black people and white peopledid not have to hate each other. But
how could he make white people inthe South see this? He
wan ted to change their
minds. But how could he
do this?
In his last year in
college, Martin went to ahear a ta lk about the
Indian leader, MohandasGandhi. Gandhi and his
followers had fought
against the British in
India. But they had not
fought with guns. They
used non-violent ways of
fighting. Gandhi thought that love
was more powerful than hate. 'If you
love your enemies, you can beat
them,' he said. Martin was excited by
Gandhi's words. Could black people
in the South end segregation without
using violence?
Martin continued his studies at
Martin Luther King 9
Martin Luther King, Coretta,and their first child
Martin Luther King's life, he and
Coretta worked together to fight
segregation in the South.
In 1954 the Kings moved back tothe South. Martin became minister
of a church in Montgomery,Alabarna.
Things were beginning to change
in the South. New laws against
segregation were passed. But white
people in the South decided to fight
against these laws. Clearly, there was
going to be trouble in the South.
And the trouble began in Martin
Luther King's new home
Montgomery, Alabarna.
ALA6AMWHIT
White protesters
Boston University. He completeda Ph.D. Now he was Dr Martin
Luther King. His family were
very proud of him.But Martin was
lonely in the North.He felt far from his
home. Then some
friends introduced
him to a youngwoman from the
South. Her name was
Coretta Scott. Theyfell in love and
married in 1953.
Soon they started a
family. For the rest of
10
6 The Montgomery Bus Boycott
Rosa Parks
Rosa Parks was a young black
woman who worked in a shop in
Montgomery. Every day she took thebus to and from her work. She
worked hard and at the end of the
day she was tired. One day in
December 1955 Rosa Parks got onthe bus and sat in a seat at the front.
More and more people got on thebus. Soon there were no more seats.
White people were standing. The
driver stopped the bus and asked
Rosa Parks to give up her seat to a
white person. Rosa Parks refused.
'I'm tired and my feet hurt,' she
said. 'I'm not going to give up my
seat for anyone.'
'If you don't give up your seat,
I'm going to call the police,' thedriver said.
'Then call the police,' said Rosa.
'I'm not moving.'
So the driver called the police and
Rosa Parks was arrested and put in
jail.
The arrest of Rosa Parks made the
black people in Montgomery very
angry. Black leaders turned to
Martin Luther King for help. What
could they do to end segregation on
Montgomery's buses?The leaders met in Martin Luther
King's church. Martin said that
black people should boycott the
buses in Montgomery. If black
people refused to ride in the buses,
the bus company would have to put
an end to segregation on their buses.
When the meeting finished,Martin was worried. Would the bus
Martin Luther King ta/ksto the newspapers
boycott succeed? Most black people
did not have cars. How would they
get to work? Perhaps many black
people would lose their jobs. Martin
Luther King did not sleep weH that
night.
Next morning Martin and Coretta
got up and looked out the window.
There was a bus stop in front of
their house. They waited for the first
bus to come. How many peoplewould be on the bus? The first bus
carne - and it was empty. Then the
second bus carne - and it was emptytoo! It was the sa me aH over
Montgomery. Black people walked
to work or stayed at home.
The bus boycott lasted for a year.
Many black people, including
Martin, were arrested and put in jail.
Some white people were angry with
Martin Luther King in jai/
Martin. They thought he was
dangerous. One night someone left a
bomb outside the King family home.
It exploded, but luckily no one washurt.
The bus company was losing
money, but it would not change its
policy. The boycott leaders took
their case to a judge. On 20
December, 1956, the judge said that
segregation in buses was against the
law. The boycott had succeeded!
/
12
7 Big trouble in littie Rock
The Montgomery bus boycott made
Martin famous. But Martin knew
that Montgomery was only the
beginning. Black people had won
their fight in Montgomery, but there
were other fights to be won in the
South. Black people needed to
organize themselves if they wan ted to
win their rights.In 1957 hundreds of Southern
black church leaders met together.
They discussed their ideas. At the
meeting Martin said that black people
had to work together to fight for their
rights. They had to be united. 'United
we stand, divided we faU,' was one of
Martin's favourite sayings.
The church leaders formed an
organization caUed the Southern
Christian Leadership Conference
(SCLC). Martin Luther King became
the president of SCLC. Their aim was
to fight for the rights of black peoplein the South.
Martin wrote a book to explain his
ideas. In his book, he talked about
the teachings of Gandhi. Martinbelieved that non-violence was the
only way to win the fight for black
rights. In Montgomery, the boycotthad been non-violent. The black
people of Montgomery had not
fought the police. They had simply
refused to accept unfair treatment.
They had won because they were
right, not because they were violent.
There were many other things in
the South which needed to change.
Schools were segregated: white
children went to aU-white schools,black children went to aU-black
schools. Although there were more
black children than white children,
much more money was spent onwhite schools than on black schools.
In 1954 the law was changed. Now
it was against the law to have
different schools for black and white
children. The new law said that black
and white children had to go to thesame schools.
But change was slow in coming to
the South. In many Southern states,
white people refused to obey the new
law. In Alabama and Arkansas, the
state governors tried to stop black
Stopping black children entering school in Alabama
children entering white schools. In
Little Rock, Arkansas, white peoplerio ted on the streets. The President
of the USA sent in 1,000 soldiers to
stop the riots.
Every morning nine black children
walked to Little Rock High School.
Every morning soldiers guarded
them as they walked through crowds
of angry whites.
Going to school in Arkansas
14
8 A new start?
The year 1960 was important for
black people in America. Martin wasbusier than ever. He decided to move
back to his father's church in
Atlanta. He spent half of his time
working in his church and the other
half working for SCLC.
Martin's policy of non-violent
protest was becoming more popularwith those who wanted to end
segregation in the South. In this year
black people found a new way of
protesting - 'sitting-in'.
Black people in the South couldnot eat in the same restaurants as
whites. One day in February 1960,
four black students in Greensboro,
North Carolina, walked into a
restaurant. They sat down at a tableand asked for lunch. The waitress
refused to take their order. The
students refused to leave the
restaurant. They began a 'sit-in'.
Soon other students joined them.The Greensboro students were
arrested, but the sit-ins did not stop.Soon there were sit-ins at white
restaurants aU over the South. White
Sitting-in at a white restaurant
students from the North traveUed
to the South to join the sit-ins.When students held a sit-in at an
Atlanta restaurant in October
1960, Martin Luther King joined
them. He was arrested and put in
pnson.
Martin was not sorry to go to
jail. Like Gandhi, he believed that
bad laws should not be obeyed. If
the law is unfair, he argued, then it
is right to break it. It is better not
to obey a bad law than to obey it.
John F. Kennedy becomes President
15
I
If this means going to prison, then
you have to accept that.
But Martin's family and friends
were afraid for him. They knew that
Martin's life was in danger in prison.
He had many enemies and some
people wanted to kill him. In the
South in 1960 it was not difficult to
kill a black prisoner. Coretta King
went to Senator John F. Kennedy for
help. Kennedy asked the judge to set
Martin free and the judge agreed.
One month later, in November,
1960, John F. Kennedy becamePresident of the United States. The
country was filled wi th hope.
The new young President pro mis ed
a new start. Surely now the bad laws
would be changed and black peoplein the South would be free at last?
But most white people in the
South still did not wa nt change.
They were ready to fight to keep
their way of life. The road to
freedom was not going to be short
or easy.
16
9 The march on Washington
In 1963, Martin began to work in
Birmingham, Alabarna. Birminghamwas one of the worst cities in the
country for black people. The chief
of the Birmingham police was a mancalled Bull Connor. When the SCLC
organised protests in Birmingham,
Connor's policemen beat the
protesters and set dogs on them.
Hundreds of protesters were hurt.
Young people wanted to join the
protesters in Birmingham. Studentscarne from universities all over
America to join in the protests.
School children wanted to help too.
Freedom was as important to them
as it was to their parents. Someblack leaders were afraid that these
young children would be hurt by the
police. But Martin's reply was,
Protesters in Birmingham
Martin Luther King 17
'Segregation will hurt them evenmore.'
On May 2, 1963, a thousand
children joined a protest march
through Birmingham. At first
the police were too surprised to
do anything. But next day the
police carne with powerful
hoses. Men, wo men, andchildren were knocked down
by the power of the water.
When the protests were
shown on television, people
were shocked by the violence of
the Birmingham police. Americans
saw police attacking black people
just because they wanted the same
rights as white people. People alI
over the country knew that this was
not right. They realized that things
had to change.
In the summer of 1963, civil rights
leaders organised the biggest protest
march of alI. They wan ted people
from alI over the country to go to
Washington DC and ask for equal
rights for black Americans.
More than 200,000 marched on
Washington. Martin Luther Kingstood in front of the statue of
'1have a dream ... '
Abraham Lincoln and made the
most famous speech of his life.
'1 have a dream,' he said. His dreamwas of an America where blacks and
whites would be equal and live
together in peace. The speech wasshown on television alI over the
world. People cried when they heard
Martin's words. Things must change
now, they thought. Martin's dream
would surely come true. The country
was full of hope in the future ofAmerica.
But later in that year, 1963,
America was once again shocked byviolence.
18
10 'This country is sick!'
A month after Martin's Washington
speech, there was more violence.
Again the place was Birmingham. Abomb was thrown into a black
church and four little black girlswere killed. It was hard to believe
that there was so much hate in
America. And it was hard for Martin
to persuade people that non-violence
was the best way to fight those who
hated. Especially when moreviolence followed.
On 22 November, 1963, President
John F. Kennedy was shot dead in
Dallas, Texas. Martin had known
The march to Montgomery
Kennedy weIl and worked wi th him.
They had argued about the be st way
of getting equal rights for blacks, but
they had agreed that equality mustcome soon.
Like most Americans, Martin was
shocked by Kennedy's death. 'This
country is sick,' he said. There were
times when he thought he too might
be killed one day.He wondered about the new
president. Lyndon Johnson came from
the South. Would he follow Kennedy's
policy on ending segregation or would
he change it? Only time would tell.
Birmingham. A church stood here
After his Washington speech,Martin became famous alI over the
world. When people thought of the
fight for civil rights in America, they
thought of Martin Luther King. In
1964 he won the Nobel Peace Prize
for his civil rights work. He was only
thirty-five years old - the youngest
person ever to win this great prize.Meanwhile Martin's work
continued. In the South there were
very few elected black leaders. This
was because very few blacks were
registered to vote. In Mississippi, for
example, only 7% of blacks were
registered to vote. When blacks tried
to register, they were often turned
away. Martin realized that getting
blacks to vote was the best way of
changing the segregation laws in theSouth.
One of the worst states for
registering black voters was
The Nobel Peace Prize
Alabama. More than 300,000 black
voters were not registered. Martin
was asked to help register black
voters in Selma, Alabama.
Day after day, black peoplemarched to the law courts in Selma.
The police tried to stop them. They
beat the protesters and one man waskilled.
Martin decided to lead a march
from Selma to Montgomery, the
state capital of Alabama. More than
thir ty thousand people joined themarch.
The state governor, George
Wallace, refused to meet the
marchers. But the government in
Washington heard what the
marchers were saying. Later that
year, Martin Luther King was
present when President Johnson
signed a law to protect the rights ofaU Americans to vote.
19
20
11 'I'm black and I'm proud!'
Proud to be black Supporters of Huey Newton Malcolm X
The 1960s were a time of great change
in America. Young people aU over
America were asking questions. They
did not wa nt to become just like their
parents.
Young blacks were impatient for
change. Although they knew that
Martin Luther King had worked hard
for equal rights, they thought that
change was too slow in coming. They
wanted power for black people and
they did not want to ask politely for it.
If necessary, they would use violence.
In 1966 Bobby Seale and HueyNewton formed the Black Panthers.
The Panthers said that blacks should
buy guns and defend themselves
against attacks by whites. Seale and
Newton were arrested and put into
prison. After a few years, the Black
Panthers broke up. But the Panthers
made many young African
Americans proud to be black. They
started to learn about Africa, eat
African food, wear African clothes.
Another group which wanted adifferent America for blacks was the
Black Muslims. The Black Muslims
had followed the teachings of Islam
for many years. But in the 1960s
they too changed their views. One oftheir leaders was Malcolm X. He did
not agree wi th non-violent protest.
Like the Black Panthers, Malcolm X
wanted blacks to be strong and
defend themselves against attack
wi th guns, if necessary. He thought
that blacks should help themselves.
They should not accept help from
whites. Violence was necessary when
you were fighting for your rights.
Many young blacks agreed withMalcolm's ideas more than with
Martin Luther King's. They were
angry that they still did not have the
same rights as whites. POOT blacks
living in the big cities of the North
did not just wa nt to be able to vote.
They wanted better houses and more
jobs.
In the 60s, many important black
writers and musicians became
popular in America. Writers like
James Baldwin and Toni Morrison
Stevie Wonder
showed Americans what the lives of
black people were like. In The Fire
Next Time, Baldwin warned of
terrible violence to come if whites
did not change their ways. The black
musician Stevie Wonder sang about
a young boy who was born in the
South but moved to Chicago to findwork. He finds that in the North he
is free - but free only to be pOOT.
Was it any wonder that young blacks
were angry?
22
12 ·Blackand white. unite
The late 1960s were a time of
change for Martin Luther King too.
He began to see that there were
many different kinds of violence.
Martin was from the South and he
wan ted freedom and equality for theblacks of the South. But life for
blacks in Northern cities was not
easy either. Blacks in the North
could go to the same schools as
whites, but many black children didnot finish school. Most Northern
blacks were poor. Many had no job
to go to when they left school. Many
carne from one-parent families and
lived in buildings that were old and
dirty.It seemed to Martin that there was
a kind a violence in this. He took his
marches and protests to the great
Northern city of Chicago. He
wanted to show people how badly
black people lived in the cities of theNorth. And he saw that it was not
just black people in the big cities
who were poor. There was poverty
among whites too. Martin wanted
poor black and white people to work
Soldiers in Vietnam
together. 'Black and white, unite and
fight!' he said. He led marches
through the streets of Chicago. Just
as in the South, the marchers were
attacked by the police.
Some black leaders did not agree
with Martin. They felt he should
only speak for black people. Poorwhites had their own leaders. But
Martin had made up his mind. He
planned to lead a Poor People's
March on Washington.
But there was something else
Martin was thinking about:Vietnam.
AlI through the 1960s America
Har/em, New York, 1960
was at war in Vietnam. By 1968 morethan half a million American soldiers
were fighting in Vietnam. Many ofthese soldiers were black and carne
from poor areas of America.Vietnam was a terrible war.
Thousands of Vietnamese and
American soldiers were kilIed.
Thousands more Vietnamese men,
women, and children who were not
soldiers were kilIed or injured.
Villages were destroyed. Rice fieldswere burned.
Many Americans were against the
war. They thought it was wrong forAmerica to make war on a smalI
Vietnam protesters
country like Vietnam. Martin agreed
with them. He spoke out against the
war. There were protests against thewar alI over America. Protesters
fought with police. The police
fought back. 'Now we know what it
feels like to be black,' said one white
protester.
24
13 Death in Memphis
The protests against the Vietnam
War grew more and more violent.
Students who refused to join the
army and fight in Vietnam rioted.
Many people who wanted to change
America began to ask if Martin
Luther King's policy of non-violence
could succeed. Was it possible to
change things in America peacefully?The Black Panthers and the
followers of Malcolm X did not
think so. They thought that the onlyanswer to white violence was black
violence. More and more young
blacks agreed with them. There were
King marches with city workersin Memphis
riots in the black areas of cities like
Detroit, Chicago, and Los Angeles.
Young blacks formed groups known
as gangs to protect their areas of the
city. Gangs fought against each
other. Guns were used and many
young black men were killed.
These killings made Martin very
sado But although he understood
why young blacks were angry, he
still thought that violence was notthe answer.
In 1968 Martin Luther King was
tired. He had been speaking and
marching and protesting for nearly
twelve years. He had won many
battles. Black people were freer than
they were in the 1950s. But there
were many more battles to be won
and many young black people did
not want to wait for change. To
these young people, Martin was no
longer their leader. He belonged to
the past.
In March 1968, there was a strike
of city workers in Memphis,Tennessee. These men worked hard
to keep the city clean. Their work
Martin Luther King 25
was dirty and badly-paid.
Most of these workers 1.•• ...!!were black. They asked ~
Martin Luther King to
help.
Martin agreed to march
with the city workers
through the streets of
Memphis. The marchers
sang and held hands. They
wanted to protest
peacefully. But gangs of
young blacks attacked the
march. They broke shop
windows and fought with
the police. One gang member
was killed in the fighting.
After the march, Martin talked to
the gangs. He explained what he was
trying to do. He said that violencewas not the answer.
The gangs agreed to march with
the city workers on their next march.
They promised there would be nomore violence. The next march was
to take place on 5 Apríl, but Martin
Luther King never saw that day.
On 3 April, Martin made a
speech. It was full of hope. '1 have
been to the mountain top,' he said. '1
King the day before his death
have seen the Promised Land. 1may
not get there with you. But we as a
people will get to the PromisedLand.'
A few ho urs later he stepped aut
on to the bakony of his hotel. There
was the sound of a gun. His friends
ran aut on to the bakony. They
found Martin lying on the ground.He had been shot. An hour later
Martin Luther King died in a
Memphis hospital. He was thirty
nine years old.
26
14 Still dreaming
Martin Luther King's death shocked
America. Black Americans could not
believe that their leader had been
taken from them. Shock was soon
followed by anger. 'Go home and get
your guns!' the Black Power leader,
Stokely Carmichael, told a crowd in
Washington, DC. There were riots in
all the big cities in the USA and more
than forty blacks were shot by the
police.
James Earl Ray, a white American,
was arrested for King's murder. He
spent thirty years in prison for King's
murder. But many people believed
that Ray was in the pay of white
politicians. They did not think that
Ray had acted alone.
Martin Luther King's body lay inhis father's church in Atlanta.
Thousands of people carne to the
church to say goodbye to the man
who led the fight for civil rights.
Later, Martin Luther King's bodywas taken to lie beside his
grandparents. On the stone above
his grave are the last words of his
most famous speech:
Coretta King at Martin LutherKing's funeral
'Free at fast, free at fast; thank
God Afmighty, I'm free at fast.'
What can we say of Martin Luther
King today, more than thirty years
since his death? Has his dream of a
fair and equal America come true?There are more black Americans in
positions of power than ever before.
Jesse Jackson, who was wi th King
when he was killed, ran for President
of the United States in 1984 and 1988.
More than 300 American cities are led
Martin Luther King 27
by black politicans.
But only 59% of black Americans
are registered to vote. And the black
vote is important, especially when
America votes for its president. In
2000, when George W. Bush beat Al
Gore by a few hundred votes, morethan 90% of African-Americans
voted for Gore.
Martin Luther King's dream has
not yet come true. Blacks and whites
are not yet equal in America. A
young black in America is five times
more likely to be in prison, out of
work, or dead in street violence than
a young white American.
The fight for civil rights in
America had many leaders. It had
many more people who worked
quietly for civil rights. For more than
ten years Martin Luther King was
the voice of these people. During the
bus boycott in Montgomery, one of
King's followers said, 'Dr King, you
have the words that we're thinking,
but can't say.'
And that is why we remember
Martin Luther King.
President George W. Bush - and Secretary of State Colin Powell
28
Exercises
A Checking your understanding
Chapters 1-4 Write answers to these questions.
1 How had Martin Luther King known racism in his own life?2 Where did most slaves work in America?
3 What civil rights did white Americans have which black Americans didnot have?
4 Where did most siaves in America live?
5 What happened when black soldiers returned from World War Two?
Chapters 5-7 Are these sentences true or false?
1 Martin Luther King learned many things from the teaching of Gandhi.
2 Rosa Parks worked for Martin Luther King.
3 The Montgomery bus boycott failed.
4 Someone wanted to kill Martin Luther King with a bomb.5 After 1954, all black and white children attended the same schools.
Chapters 8-10 How much can you remember?1 Where was the first 'sit-in'?
2 Where did the police set dogs on protesters?
3 What did people feel when they saw the protests on TV?
4 Where did Martin Luther King lead a march to register black voters?
5 Who signed the law to protect the rights of all Americans to vote?
Chapters 11-14 Pind answers to these questions
1 How did the Black Panthers make many young African-Americans
proud?
2 Why did Martin Luther King lead marches in Chicago?
3 What did many young black people think of Martin in 1968?
4 What happened when Martin Luther King marched in Memphis?
Martin Luther King
B Working with language
1 Put these sentences in the right order. Check your answers with Chapter 6.
1 A judge said that segregation in buses was against the law.
2 Black people walked to work or stayed at home.
3 Rosa Parks refused to let a white person take her seat on the bus.
4 Martin Luther King said that black people should boycott the buses
in Montgomery.5 Rosa Parks was arrested.
2 Write a sentence about each of these people.
1 President John F Kennedy.2 Toussaint L'Ouverture.
3 Abraham Lincoln.
4 Mohandas Gandhi.
5 James Baldwin.
C Activities
1 It is 1957 in Little Rock, Arkansas. You are a black student on your way
to school. Soldiers are guarding you. White people are shouting at you.
How do you feel? Do you think things will get better? Or do you think
they will always stay the same?
2 Martin Luther King used non-violence to fight segregation in America.
He succeeded. Do you think non-violence always works? When would
non-violence not succeed? Why?
o Project work
Choose an African-American musician, sportsman, or politician.
Write a short biography of the person you've chosen.
29
30
Glossary
admire think weIl of someone
attack (v) use violence against aperson or a thing
Baptist belonging to a Christiangroup
cheer (v) shout because you arepleased
civil rights the freedom that lawsgive to people
competition situation when peopletry to win something
defend protect
divided not whole, in two or moreparts
elect choose a politician to speakfor you
equality (n) when everyone has thesame civil rights
form make an organization withother people
freedom (n) when the laws of acountry let you choose where andhow you live, work, go to school orvote
government group of people whorun a city or a country
grave (n) hole in the ground wheredead people are put
judge (n) someone who decidesabout the law
law rules that people must obey .
leader person who speaks forpeople who agree with his/her ideasminister leader of a Christianchurch
politician person who works inlocal or national government, orperson who wants to do this
powerful strong
prize something given to the winnerof a competition
protest (n/v) speak or act againstsomething which you think iswrong; act of protesting
proud pleased
racism unfair feeling or actionagainst people of a different race
regis ter (v) write down yom name
shock (v) be surprised by somethingbad
slave (n) person who is owned bysomeone and has to work for him/her
speech talk given to a group ofpeople
strike (n) action when workers willnot work
united standing together
vote (v) choose a politician to speakfor you