Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. time line.Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s enduring legacy is his leadership of the civil rights civil rights n. those rights guaranteed by the Bill of Rights, the 13th and 14th Amendments to the Constitution, including the right to due process, equal treatment under the law of all people regarding enjoyment of life, liberty, property, and protection. Positive civil rights include the right to vote, the opportunity to enjoy the benefits of a democratic society, such as equal access to public schools, recreation, transportation, public facilities, and movement, which helped remove political and social barriers that treated African-Americans and other minorities unfairly. The time line below lists some key events in Dr. King's life. Study the information, then answer the questions on a separate sheet of paper. TIME LINE 1929: Martin Luther King Jr. is born on January 15 in Atlanta, Georgia. His parents are Alberta King, a schoolteacher, and Martin Luther King Sr., the minister at Atlanta's Ebenezer Baptist Church. 1948: Martin Luther King Jr. is ordained as a Baptist minister. He graduates from Morehouse College, and then enrolls in a divinity program at Crozer Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania. King begins studying Mohandas Gandhi's teachings on nonviolent protest. 1953: King marries Coretta Scott and settles in Montgomery, Alabama. He and Coretta will have four children. 1955-56: As pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, King leads a boycott by African-Americans to protest Montgomery's segregated bus system. In 1956, the Supreme Court rules that Alabama's laws requiring racial segregation on buses are unconstitutional. 1957: King, fellow ministers, and civil rights activists form the Southern Christian Leadership Conference Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), civil-rights organization founded in 1957 by Martin Luther King, Jr., and headed by him until his assassination in 1968. Composed largely of African-American clergy from the South and an outgrowth of the Montgomery, Ala., bus boycott that King had led, it advocated nonviolent passive resistance as the means of securing equality for African Americans. It sponsored the massive march on Washington in 1963., an organization that works to end racial segregation throughout the U.S. King makes more than 200 speeches in support of civil rights. 1960-62: The King family moves to Atlanta. In 1961, King joins African-American college students who stage "sit-in" demonstrations protesting segregation in restaurants. King meets with President John F. Kennedy in 1962 and urges support for civil rights legislation. 1963-64: King delivers his famous "I Have a Dream" speech during the March on Washington in 1983. The next year, President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act. The new law prohibits racial discrimination in public places and calls for equal opportunity in employment and education. In December, King, 35, becomes the youngest person to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. 1965: King helps organize voter-registration efforts throughout the U.S. In Selma, Alabama, thousands of civil rights supporters march peacefully to protest for voting rights. Police officers use tear gas tear gas, gas that causes temporary blindness through the excessive flow of tears resulting from irritation of the eyes. The gas is used in chemical warfare and as a means for dispersing mobs. Compounds that cause lacrimation (watering of the eyes) include bromoacetone, benzyl bromide, chloroacetophenone, ethyl iodoacetate, chloropicrin bromobenzyl cyanide, and bromine-substituted xylenes., water cannons, dogs, and clubs to stop the march. The confrontation is broadcast on television and shocks the nation. Six months later, the Voting Rights Act is signed into law, guaranteeing that all Americans, regardless of race, have the right to vote. 1968: King organizes a march to call attention to the problems of poor people across the U.S. He is shot and killed by a gunman in Memphis, Tennessee, before he can begin the march. QUESTIONS: 1. When did Martin Luther King Jr. become a Baptist minister? 2. Whose teachings on civil disobedience did Martin Luther King Jr. begin studying in 1948? 3. Martin Luther King Jr. led what kind of protest against unfair laws in Montgomery, Alabama? 4. What was an important Supreme Court ruling in 1956 affecting African-Americans and other minorities? 5. What was the purpose of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference? 6. During which year did Martin Luther King Jr. make more than 200 speeches in support of civil rights? 7. Who signed the Civil Rights Act into law in 1964? 8. What changes did the Civil Rights Act of 1964 bring about? 9. How did segregationists try to intimidate protesters in Selma, Alabama? 10. Do you think King's nonviolent approach to protest was effective? Why or why not? ANSWERS 1. 1948 2. Mohandas Gandhi 3. He led the boycott of buses. in Montgomery, Alabama, to protest the segregation of the city buses. 4. The Supreme Court ruled that Alabama's bus-segregation laws, were unconstitutional. 5. The organization was formed to end racial segregation in the U.S. 6. 1957 7. President Lyndon B. Johnson 8. The new law prohibited racial segregation in public places and established equal opportunity in employment and education. 9. Alabama police officers used tear gas, water cannons, dogs, and clubs to end the peaceful demonstration. 10. Answers will vary. |
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