Matin Luther King Jr. Remembered

Hillwood Academic Day School is closed on Martin Luther King Jr. Day to honor the life and work of this civil rights activist.

Erion and Jay made the following video clip, and the story below is by Hillwood graduate Julian G., who is now at Sacred Heart. The article includes a video clip from "Meet the Press," and shows Dr. King being interviewed. The clip reveals him as an amazing speaker and someone able to handle an aggressive interview style.



Marin Luther King Jr. is known by everyone for giving rights to blacks.

He began his career as a Baptist preacher. He went on to lead the civil rights movement, and he also made history.

Jim Crow laws were terrible. They did not let blacks sit in the front of the bus and they had to give up their seats if a white person was standing. They had to eat in separate restaurants, go to separate public restrooms, and even separate public schools. But in 1954 Jim Crow lost to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court declared separate schools for blacks and whites was unequal. The case was called "Brown v. Board of Education."

Black people were tired of the racism, so they boycotted the bus system because a woman named Rosa Park in Montgomery, Alabama, was arrested for not giving up her seat to a white person. Thirteen months later the bus gave in because of the cash flow problems with no one riding the bus.

The Montgomery boycott inspired more people to join him. In 1963 Dr. King and other civil right leaders organized the march in Washington. More than two hundred thousand people came to for demand equality for blacks.

The Civil Rights movement was changing the nation. In 1964 Congress passed the Civil Rights act which made racial discrimination in public places legal. He also got the Nobel Peace Prize.

On April 4, 1998 Martin Luther King was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, by James Earl Ray. But, still Dr. King's words, speeches and his legacy lives on with us. He inspired Hispanics, women, and even the disabled.

Below is an interview with Martin Luther King and several journalists on the television show Meet the Press, which ran on national TV, in the mid-1950s. Meet the Press is a news show that still airs on regular TV today.



Hillwood Herald readers: Don't forget school is closed on Monday in observance of Dr. Martin Luther King day.

The Civil Rights Movement Remembered

February is black history month. In February, people remember Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Thurgood Marshall, and many others. Rosa Parks was the woman that didn't give up her seat in the bus for a white man. She was arrested and sent to jail, simply for not giving her bus seat up to a white man.

Montgomery, Alabama, is where this happened. Black people were forced to sit in the back seats of the bus, and if there were front seats available and a black man was sitting and a white man was standing, the black man had to stand up and give up his seat to the white man. If he didn't give up his seat, he would be arrested and sent to jail. That was what happened to Rosa Parks. She didn't give her seat up to a white man and was arrested for doing that.

Martin Luther King Junior heard about the incident that happened with
Rosa Parks and decided to launch a boycott on the Alabama buses. He, as you may know, spoke a famous speech called "I have a dream." He was mad that people were so racist to black people. He was shot when he was standing on his balcony, while presenting a speech. People found and caught the man who shot him but, but some people believe that some one else was behind the murder of Martin.

Last but not least, there is Thurgood Marshall. He was a civil rights lawyer. His most important case was Blacks v. Board of Eduction of Topeka. He was the first African-American Supreme Court Justice.

By: Rubina H.

Source: National Archives