Martin Luther King-Factfiles

MartinLutherKING

Alan C. McLean

Oxford BookwormsFactfiles

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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