Martin Luther King Jr

• 1. Who Was Martin Luther King Jr.?
  

2. Americans honor the birthday of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. annually on the third Monday of January. Why do we remember him?
3. Who Was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.?
Martin Luther King Jr. was born in Atlanta, Georgia on January 15, 1929.His father and his grandfather both served as pastors for many years.
4. WhenMartin Luther King was a child and young man, African Americans and white people could not go eat in the same restaurants.They couldnt go to the same schools, drink from the same water fountains, or sit together on the bus.African Americans had to sit in the back of the bus.If an African American was in a seat and a white person came on the bus, the African American person had to give up their seat to the white person.
5. Martin Luther King went to college in Boston and became a minister.He moved back down south and was disappointed that African American and white people couldnt work or play together. At that time, there were rules and laws that said that African American people couldnt do many things that white people could do.This made people uncomfortable and sad.
6. Martin Luther King knew that this wasnt right and he decided to work to make it change.He traveled all over the country and talked with lots of people.He was famous for giving speeches and making people think about this problem.
7. For ten years, Dr. King traveled around the country and gave more than 2,500 speeches about these concerns.He wrote 5 books and lots of articles and stories.
8. One of his most famous speeches is called, I Have a Dream.In this speech, Dr. King tells about how he dreamed that one day, black and white children would play together and their parents would work together.Everyone would respect each other.He gave this speech in 1963 in Washington, DC.This was his most famous speech.
9. Dr. King continued to work hard talking to people and trying to help everyone get along.In 1968, 5 years after he gave his famous I Have a Dream speech, he was shot when he went out on his hotel balcony.It was a sad day.People wanted to remember all of the good work that he did so they decided to celebrate his birthday each January.
10. It took 20 years for the government to make his birthday a National Holiday.
11. How do people celebrate?
Schools are closed so that children can celebrate with their families.Some communities have parades.Some people do volunteer work to help others who need help.Some people read stories and talk about how important it is to treat everybody with respect.
12. Dr. King had a dream that one day, everybody would work and play together.Why was this an important dream?
What is your dream?
13. References
Photos:All photos are from Google Images
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