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The Fight for Civil Rights (answer all questions with complete sentences)
In 1776, Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence.
FACT OR OPINION: Is this a fact or opinion? Explain.
In it he wrote, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness." It was a new concept. But at the time, these unalienable rights that Jefferson wrote about didn't apply to African-Americans.
CLARIFY : What does unalienable rights mean? If you do not know, look it up in the dictionary.
Until the 13th Amendment of the Constitution was passed in 1865, African-Americans were held as slaves. Later amendments gave African-Americans equal protection under the law and the right to vote.
Despite the federal laws, African-Americans were still treated like second-class citizens. They faced discrimination and intimidation well into the 20th Century. For example, there were drinking fountains and restrooms designated "colored only." African Americans were often barred from entering restaurants and other businesses, and when they were allowed in, public buildings often had separate entrances. Often taxi services would not stop for African Americans.
QUESTION : How were African American treated at this time?
On crowded public buses, African Americans routinely had to give up seats to white passengers. African-American children attended separate schools. While these schools were supposed to be equal to the ones attended by white children, they were almost always far worse.
REVIEW: What is one important idea from this paragraph?
By 1960, the civil rights movement was underway. People of all races and different walks of life joined forces to put an end to the social wrongs in the United States. African-American churches were at the forefront of the battle for Civil Rights, and Martin Luther King Jr., a Baptist pastor, led the charge.
King was born in 1929 and came from a long line of Baptist ministers. His grandfather, Rev. A.D. Williams, served as minister of Ebenezer Baptist church in Atlanta. He had helped found the Atlanta chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), one of the country's leading civil rights groups. King's father, Martin Luther King, Sr., served as minister of the same church. Ultimately, King would lead Ebenezer Baptist Church, too.
CLARIFY: Who was the pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church?
As a student of theology, King became interested in the ideas of Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhi believed that non-violent methods such as marches, letters, articles, community meetings and boycotts could affect social change.
King, who married Coretta Scott in 1953, became the pastor at a Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. The country's attention turned to Montgomery in 1955 when civil rights activist Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat to a white passenger. This began a boycott of the city's bus system.
FACT OR OPINION : Is this a fact or opinion? Explain.
A group led by King called the Montgomery Improvement Association played an important role in organizing the boycott.
Over the course of a year, 42,000 African Americans chose not to ride Montgomery's buses. Instead, civil rights activists coordinated rides for the protesters. The boycott was a success. The Supreme Court ruled that bus segregation was unconstitutional. The Montgomery boycott would serve as a model for future non-violent protests, and King found himself leading the push for civil rights.
REVIEW: What is one important idea from this paragraph?
Though most protestors used non-violent methods, they were often arrested and jailed for breaking laws. Martin Luther King was no exception. After his arrest at an anti-segregation protest in Birmingham, Alabama, he wrote that people have a moral duty to disobey unjust laws like those that discriminated against African Americans.
QUESTION: When did Martin Luther King, Jr. say it was alright to disobey a law?
While King and his civil rights activists advocated non-violent protests, they were often subjected to brutality at the hands of the police. During protests in Birmingham in May 1963, police turned fire hoses and dogs on African-American demonstrators. The violence was captured by television crews and broadcast for the world to see. The images helped to build support for the civil rights movement.
Later that year in August, nearly 200,000 people participated in the March on Washington for jobs and Freedom. It was there that King delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech that inspired a generation to take up the cause of civil rights. Looking out at the crowd of people gathered at the Lincoln Memorial, King said:
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. I have a dream that my four 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.
King saw part of that dream come true when President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law. It prohibited discrimination of all kinds based on race, color, religion, or national origin. The law also provided the federal government with the powers to enforce desegregation.
CLARIFY: What does desegregation mean? If you do not now, look it up in the dictionary.
For his work, King was named Time Magazine's Man of the Year, and at 35 years old, he became the youngest person to win a Nobel Peace Prize. For all his good works, King and his methods weren't always praised. There were some people within the civil rights movement who promoted "Black Power," or separatism, and even engaged in armed resistance. These same people rejected King's methods and discounted the progress that had been made using non-violence. King, undeterred, continued his work for civil rights.
On April 3, 1968, King delivered a prophetic speech. In it he said:
Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn't matter with me now. Because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people will get to the promised land.
The next morning, King stood on a balcony outside his Memphis hotel room, preparing to go to a march in support of striking sanitation workers. Suddenly a shot rang out, and King fell to the floor fatally wounded. King was just 39 years old when he died. In his I Have a Dream Speech," King said, "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.'" Though he did not live to see that day, other civil rights activist carried on his mission of non-violence.
REVIEW: What is an important idea from this article?
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