Reference no: EM133373300

What do you think was an important result of Dr. King's work? How did it change people's lives? Cite evidence from the article, and use your own reasoning to support your ideas.

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The boy was six when his dad took him to the shoe store. There, a clerk refused to help them because of the color of their skin. As they left, the boy heard his father say, "I don't care how long I have to live with this system, I will never accept it."

The boy's name? Martin Luther King, Jr. He would grow up and devote his life to ending such segregation. He never quit in the fight for civil rights for Black Americans.

Each year in January, Americans observe Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. This national holiday honors Dr. King's efforts to improve the lives of Black Americans. His goal was to build a fairer country for all. He encouraged peaceful protest. He believed it was the best way to challenge unjust laws and racism.

A minister, Dr. King became a leading figure in the civil rights movement. He was born in Atlanta on January 15, 1929. He grew up at a time when the United States was largely segregated by race. Laws in southern states blocked people of color from many restaurants and swimming pools. They had to use separate public bathrooms and water fountains. Black children were forced to go to second-class schools. Outside the South, racist rules controlled where Black people lived and worked. Protests against such laws were often met with arrests or violence.

Dr. King first gained national attention in 1956. That year, he helped lead a bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama. Black people there had to sit in the back of the bus. Montgomery's Black citizens refused to ride city buses until the law was changed. The boycott lasted more than a year, but it was successful.

Peaceful protests became the center of Dr. King's strategy. He urged followers not to fight back with fists or weapons. Instead, they planned nonviolent public protests against racist laws. These showdowns showed the world the unfair treatment Black Americans regularly faced.

The civil rights struggle helped change the laws of the United States for the better. In 1964, Congress voted in favor of the Civil Rights Act. It made segregation against the law. A year later, it passed the Voting Rights Act. This law protected the rights of Black voters. More and more, Dr. King turned his attention to helping communities in need. His work made enemies, though, and in April 1968, Dr. King was murdered.

More than a half-century later, Dr. King's story is known around the world. His teachings still guide those fighting injustice. Unlike angry mobs who hurt others to get their way, Dr. King believed the goal must be to battle injustice peacefully. Such protests make the world stronger, he said.

"Nonviolence," Dr. King said, "is a powerful and just weapon...which cuts without wounding.... It is a sword that heals."