|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
Previous Issues > January 2008 > Way Back When > A Dream Is Born
|
 |
 |
 |
| |
 Way Back When
A Dream Is Born
published: January 2008
By Sheri Collins, Contributing Writer
Email Author
Way back when, on January 15, 1929, Martin Luther King, Jr. was born in Atlanta, to the Reverend Martin Luther King, Sr., and Alberta Williams King. In those days life was very different in the United States. Our country was segregated, which meant that white people and black people were not allowed to use the same bathrooms, attend the same schools or churches or sit in the same places in public.
King graduated from high school at age 15; continued his education through college, the seminary and a doctorate and became a minister, like his father and grandfather. He married Coretta Scott and settled in Montgomery, Alabama.
King first began to fight for desegregation in December 1955, when Rosa Parks, a black woman, refused to give up her bus seat for a white person. Parks was arrested, and King led the Montgomery Improvement Association in a boycott of the city's buses. A year after the boycott, the buses were desegregated. His fight for desegregation included peaceful protests such as sit-ins, protest marches and speeches to groups around the country.
His most famous speech is known as "I Have a Dream," where he talks about a future where blacks and whites would live together as equals and not be judged by the color of their skin. He gave this speech in 1963 from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial during the March on Washington, and it was a defining moment of the American Civil Rights Movement. The speech is often considered to be one of the greatest speeches in history. In 1964, the Civil Rights Law was passed to outlaw segregation, and King received the Nobel Peace Prize.
On April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot and killed at a hotel room in Memphis, Tennessee. The hotel is now the National Civil Rights Museum. To honor Kings memory, the U.S. Congress designated the third Monday of January as Martin Luther King day, a
national holiday.
Sheri Collins is a contributing writer for Kidsville News! Sources: www.nobelprize.org; www.inspiring-quotes-and-stories.com/famous-speeches.html; www.lib.lsu.edu/hum/mlk.
|
 |
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
