Sunday 15 January 2012

MARTIN LUTHER KING'S DAY

In the United States, Martin Luther King Day is always observed on the third Monday of January...
Since 1986, the United States has observed the birth of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. as a legal public holiday. This day is set aside each year to honor King, the powerful black minister from Atlanta who was the main force behind the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s. He was also a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (1964) for leading non-violent civil rights demonstrations.
Dr. King was treated unfairly when he was a young boy because he was an African American. Back in those days, there were even laws that said that if you were African American, and you had brown skin, you couldn't sit at the same restaurants as white people and you couldn't drink from the same water fountains, or anything! We call this kind of attitude prejudice, and it's NOT OK! When Dr. King grew up, he worked hard to change people's ideas about race. He wanted people to understand that everyone should be treated equally, regardless of what they looked like. Dr. King wrote one of the most famous speeches in history, called "I Have a Dream".It talked about his dream that one day in the near future, all people would respect and care for one another. He believed that children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin. In January we celebrate Martin Luther King's Birthday to remember his dream.

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