MAN WITH A DREAM

Martin Luther King, Jr. wanted black and white Americans to live happily together. On the third Monday in January, many Americans honour this hero.

Dr Martin Luther King, Jr, was a black pastor. He was born in Atlanta, Georgia on 15 January, 1929. He was the leader of the Civil Rights movement demanding equality for black people. Many Southern states in the USA like Georgia, were segregated in the 1950s: black children couldn’t go to the same schools as whites; Blacks and Whites couldn’t sit in the same bus seats, theatres or use the same public toilets. King believed that was wrong.

In December 1955, Rosa Parks, a black woman, was on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama. A white man demanded her seat and she refused. She was arrested. King, who was working in Montgomery, led a black protest. For a year, black people refused to use the buses. Finally, segregation on the buses was declared illegal.

Dr King was now famous and he continued with many other protests. Some white people supported him, but many opposed him. His house was bombed.

In 1964, he received the Nobel Peace Prize. But he continued to have enemies and on April 4, 1968 he was assassinated. Ironically, the death of this non-violent man provoked riots all over America.