Getting on the bus. A black woman comes home after a long hard day. She sat in the front of the bus because she was so tired that her legs hurt. But the car belonged to the city of Montgomery in Alabama. 55 years old and 19 years old this year.
In those days, black people could sit only in the back of buses. So the driver ordered the woman to give up her seat. But the woman refused and she was arrested.
Events like this happen. But no one has ever spoken out against this treatment for black people. This time, however, a young black pastor organized the protest. He called on all black citizens to park their buses in Montgomery and ride until the law was changed.
The young pastor’s name is Martin. Luther. gold. He led protests to end busing injustice in Montgomery. The protest became known as the Montgomery Bus Boycott. The protests marked the beginning of the civil rights movement in the United States.
This is Martin. Luther. The story of King and his role in the early American Civil Rights Movement.
Voice 2:
Martin Luther King was born in Atlanta, Georgia, nineteen-twenty-nine. He was born into a religious family. Martin's father was a preacher in the church. His mother came from a church with strong religious affiliations.
In 1929, Atlanta was one of the wealthiest cities in the American South. Many black families came to the city in search of a better life. There is less interracial tension between whites and blacks in Atlanta than in other southern cities. But Atlanta still had laws designed to keep blacks and whites separate.
Legal segregation existed throughout the American South. They forced blacks to attend independent schools and live in separate areas of a city. Blacks do not have the same rights as whites, and are often poorer and less educated.
Voice:
Martin Luther King had no idea about segregation when he was young. But as he grew older, he soon discovered that black people were not equal.
One day, his father Martin went out to buy shoes. They walked into a shoe store belonging to a white businessman.
This merchant sells shoes to please everyone. But he had a rule that black people could not buy shoes in the front store. He ordered Martin's father to follow the rules. Martin never forgot his father's angry reply.
"If you didn't sell shoes to black people in front of that store, you wouldn't sell shoes to us."
Such accidents, however, were rare in Martin's early life . Instead, he leads the life of a normal boy. Martin loved to study and he passed school very quickly. When he was only 15 years old, he was ready to enter college. at University College, known as Morehouse in Atlanta. Morehouse College is one of the few colleges and universities where students can study black.
Voice 2:
It was in college that Martin decided to become a priest. At the same time, he also discovered that he had a gift for public speaking.
He will soon be able to test his gift. One Sunday, Martin's father asked him to preach at his church. When Martin arrived, church members were surprised to see such a young man preparing to speak to them. But they were even more surprised to find that their words deeply moved the young Martin Luther King.
Church members have said of him: "The boy looks older than his years. He understands life and its problems."
Voice:
Martin seemed to impart wisdom to others as he studied in college. He carefully read the works of India's leader and thinker Mahatma Gandhi. Martin also studied books by the American philosopher Henry David Thoreau. The two wrote about fighting injustice. Gandhi led his people with freedom and peace by refusing to obey unjust laws. He taught his followers never to use violence. Thoreau also urged people not just to break the law, but to be willing to go to jail for their beliefs.
As he studied, Martin felt he had found the answer and must replace his people. Gandhi's ideas and Solow's - nonviolence and civil disobedience can be used together to win equal rights for black Americans. Martin knew, then, that his decision to become a missionary was the right one. He believed that as a missionary he would spread the ideas of Gandhi and Thoreau. A few years later, he said.
“My college studies gave me the fundamental truths that I now believe in. I discovered the idea of ??the singularity of the human being and the dignity and worth of all human character.
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