Martin Luther King, Jr. -- I’ll call him Rev. King from now on -- was born in 1929 and died in 1968. He died the year I was born, so not that long ago.

 

Rev. King was born the son of a pastor in Atlanta, Georgia. 

 

In those days, African Americans were treated differently because of the color of their skin in many places of the US. They were made to go to different schools and different restaurants. And the schools and restaurants they had to go to were by and large not as nice as the ones that white people visited. Also, local laws often prevented them from carrying out their constitutional rights, such as voting.   

 

When Rev. King was a child, he was good friends with a white boy whose father owned a business near his family's home. When the boys were six, they started school. Rev. King had to attend a school for black children and the other boy went to one for white children. Not only could they not go to school together, but the father of Rev. King’s friend also decided that he did not want his son playing with a black boy. This was very sad for both boys. As he grew up, Rev. King noticed the injustice of how black people were treated in parts of the US, and he wanted to do something about it.

 

Rev. King wanted to help the situation and heal America. At the age of 25, he became the pastor of a Baptist Church in Alabama. There, he preached Jesus’ command to love one another. He also criticized the laws that prevented people from being treated equally. 

 

Over time, Rev. King began to help organize people to peacefully protest these unjust laws. For example, many hundreds or even thousands of people would march down the street at one time, or they would sit at restaurant tables that were marked “whites only.” Rev. King led people to resist in non-violent ways. They broke rules and got attention without hurting others or destroying property. These methods still got King into trouble. He was put in jail 39 times! But he kept preaching his message of peaceful protest.

 

Rev. King gave many powerful speeches during his life. The most famous is one he delivered in Washington D.C. I will read a small part of it for you now:

 

“I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

 

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.'

 

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

 

I have a dream today… That one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers. I have a dream today.”

 

Eventually, change began to occur. In 1964, the government passed laws preventing employers from choosing against certain employees because of their race.

 

In 1968, Martin Luther King was assassinated. This means someone killed him because of his ideas. Someone who didn’t want the country to change wanted to stop him from succeeding in his mission. However, Rev. King left a powerful legacy. His leadership encouraged protesters who wanted change, not to be violent, and not to be destructive.  He knew this would help win over more people to the view that people should not b treated differently because of the color of their skin.

 

Twenty years later, president Ronald Reagan set January 14^th as Martin Luther King Jr.  day to commemorate King’s work on behalf of freedom and equality.