Martin Luther King

Martin Luther King

During the 1950s and 1960s, Martin Luther King, Jr. was a famous leader in the movement to give civil rights for black Americans. In those years Afro-Americans were denied many civil rights. For example, in

many places black Americans could not vote, go to the same restaurants as white people or get good jobs because of their colour. King worked to make the government guarantee civil rights for black Americans.

King and his followers used peaceful methods — protest marches and boycotts — to force the government to change the law. King began to work in Montgomery, Alabama, where he served as pastor of a Baptist church.

In 1955, Rosa Parks, a black woman of Montgomery, was arrested because she hadn’t given up her seat to a white passenger in the bus. This arrest led to a boycott of city buses organized by King and other black leaders. For over a year thousands of Afro-Americans in Montgomery stopped riding city buses. Finally the law in the city of Montgomery was changed and King became known throughout the country.

Probably the most famous of King’s protest actions was held in August 1963 in Washington D.C. More than 200,000 people met in the capital to march from the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial. Millions more watched the march on television. Under King’s leadership the civil rights movement won important victories. In 1964, Congress passed a law that stopped unfair treatment of black Americans in public places. In 1965, a protest organized by King resulted in a federal law that gave voting rights to black Americans. On April 4, 1968, King was killed in Memphis, Tennessee. He was just 39 years old. Now his birthday in January is a national holiday in the USA.

Read the text about Martin Luther King and choose the right answer:

1. Martin Luther King

a) was famous at the very end of the XX century

b) fought for civil rights of native Americans

c) protected black Americans

d) didn’t want to use peaceful methods of struggle

2. Which fact was NOT mentioned in the text?

a) black Americans couldn’t vote

b) it was impossible for black Americans to get a good job

c) no civil rights for black Americans were guaranteed

d) American slaves were emancipated as a result of the Civil War

3. A boycott of city buses happened because

a) the authorities didn’t want King to be the pastor of a Baptist Church

b) Rosa Parks was unjustly arrested

c) several black women stopped using public transport in Montgomery

d) King and other black leaders wanted the law in the city of Montgomery to be changed

4. In 1963

a) Congress passed a law in favour of black Americans

b) a federal law giving the black Americans the right to vote was accepted

c) the most famous King’s protest actions took place in Washington DC.