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And I'm Steve Ember with PEOPLE IN AMERICA in VOA Special English. Today, we tell about Rosa Parks, who has been called the mother of the American civil rights movement.
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VOICE ONE:
Until the nineteen sixties, black people in many parts of the United States did not have the same civil rights as white people. Laws in the American South kept the two races separate. These laws forced black people to attend separate schools, live in separate areas of a city and sit in separate areas on a bus.
On December first, nineteen fifty-five, in the southern city of Montgomery, Alabama, a forty-two year old black woman got on a city bus. The law at that time required black people seated in one area of the bus to give up their seats to white people who wanted them. The woman refused to do this and was arrested.
This act of peaceful disobedience started protests in Montgomery that led to legal changes in minority rights in the United States. The woman who started it was Rosa Parks. Today, we tell her story.
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VOICE TWO:
She was born Rosa Louise McCauley in nineteen-thirteen in Tuskegee, Alabama. She attended local schools until she was eleven years old. Then she was sent to school in Montgomery. She left high school early to care for her sick grandmother, then to care for her mother. She did not finish high school until she was twenty-one.
Rosa married Raymond Parks in nineteen thirty-two. He was a barber who cut men's hair. He was also a civil rights activist. Together, they worked for the local group of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. In nineteen forty-three, Missus Parks became an officer in the group and later its youth leader.
Rosa Parks was a seamstress in Montgomery. She worked sewing clothes from the nineteen thirties until nineteen fifty-five. Then she became a representation of freedom for millions of African-Americans.
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VOICE ONE:
In much of the American South in the nineteen fifties, the first rows of seats on city buses were for white people only. Black people sat in the back of the bus. Both groups could sit in a middle area. However, black people sitting in that part of the bus were expected to leave their seats if a white person wanted to sit there.
Rosa Parks is fingerprinted after
refusing to move to the back of a bus.
Rosa Parks and three other black people were seated in the middle area of the bus when a white person got on the bus and wanted a seat. The bus driver demanded that all four black people leave their seats so the white person would not have to sit next to any of them. The three other blacks got up, but Missus Parks refused. She was arrested.
Some popular stories about that incident include the statement that Rosa Parks refused to leave her seat because her feet were tired. But she herself said in later years that this was false. What she was really tired of, she said, was accepting unequal treatment. She explained later that this seemed to be the place for her to stop being pushed around and to find out what human rights she had, if any.
VOICE TWO:
A group of black activist women in Montgomery was known as the Women's Political Council. The group was working to oppose the mistreatment of black bus passengers. Blacks had been arrested and even killed for violating orders from bus drivers. Rosa Parks was not the first black person to refuse to give up a seat on the bus for a white person. But black groups in Montgomery considered her to be the right citizen around whom to build a protest because she was one of the finest citizens of the city.
The women's group immediately called for all blacks in the city to refuse to ride on city buses on the day of Missus Parks's trial, Monday, December fifth. The result was that forty thousand people walked and used other transportation on that day.
That night, at meetings throughout the city, blacks in Montgomery agreed to continue to boycott the city buses until their mistreatment stopped.
They also demanded that the city hire black bus drivers and that anyone be permitted to sit in the middle of the bus and not have to get up for anyone else.
VOICE ONE:
The Montgomery bus boycott continued for three hundred eighty-one days. It was led by local black leader E.D. Nixon and a young black minister, Martin Luther King, Junior. Similar protests were held in other southern cities. Finally, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled on Missus Parks's case. It made racial separation illegal on city buses. That decision came on November thirteenth, nineteen fifty-six, almost a year after Missus Parks's arrest. The boycott in Montgomery ended the day after the court order arrived, December twentieth.
Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Junior had started a movement of non-violent protest in the South. That movement changed civil rights in the United States forever. Martin Luther King became its famous spokesman, but he did not live to see many of the results of his work. Rosa Parks did.
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VOICE TWO:
Life became increasingly difficult for Rosa Parks and her family after the bus boycott.
Rosa Parks and President Clinton
after he presented her with the Presidential
Medal of Freedom in 1996
She was dismissed from her job and could not find another. So the Parks family left Montgomery. They moved first to Virginia, then to Detroit, Michigan. Missus Parks worked as a seamstress until nineteen sixty-five. Then, Michigan Representative John Conyers gave her a job working in his congressional office in Detroit. She retired from that job in nineteen eighty-eight.
Through the years, Rosa Parks continued to work for the NAACP and appeared at civil rights events. She was a quiet woman and often seemed uneasy with her fame. But she said that she wanted to help people, especially young people, to make useful lives for themselves and to help others. In nineteen eighty-seven, she founded the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self-Development to improve the lives of black children.
Rosa Parks received two of the nation's highest honors for her civil rights activism. In nineteen ninety-six, President Clinton honored her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. And in nineteen ninety-nine, she received the Congressional Gold Medal of Honor.
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VOICE ONE:
In her later years, Rosa Parks was often asked how much relations between the races had improved since the civil rights laws were passed in the nineteen sixties. She thought there was still a long way to go. Yet she remained the face of the movement for racial equality in the United States.
Rosa Parks died on October twenty-fourth, two thousand five. She was ninety-two years old. Her body lay in honor in the United States Capitol building in Washington. She was the first American woman to be so honored. Thirty thousand people walked silently past her body to show their respect.
Representative Conyers spoke about what this woman of quiet strength meant to the nation. He said: "There are very few people who can say their actions and conduct changed the face of the nation. Rosa Parks is one of those individuals."
VOICE TWO:
Rosa Parks meant a lot to many Americans. Four thousand people attended her funeral in Detroit, Michigan. Among them were former President Bill Clinton, his wife Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, the Reverend Jesse Jackson, and Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan.
President Clinton spoke about remembering the separation of the races on buses in the South when he was a boy. He said that Rosa Parks helped to set all Americans free. He said the world knows of her because of a single act of bravery that struck a deadly blow to racial hatred.
Earlier, the religious official of the United States Senate spoke about her at a memorial service in Washington. He said Rosa Parks's bravery serves as an example of the power of small acts. And the Reverend Jesse Jackson commented in a statement about what her small act of bravery meant for African-American people. He said that on that bus in nineteen fifty-five, "She sat down in order that we might stand up… and she opened the doors on the long journey to freedom."
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VOICE ONE:
This program was written by Nancy Steinbach. It was produced by Lawan Davis. I'm Pat Bodnar.
VOICE TWO:
And I'm Steve Ember. Join us again next week for another People in America program on the Voice of America.
(This program, Part One of the story of Martin Luther King and The Civil Rights Movement, was first presented in January of 2008)
ANNOUNCER:
People in America - a program in Special English on the Voice of America.
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Today, Warren Scheer and Shep O'Neal begin the story of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Junior.
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VOICE ONE:
It all started on a bus. A black woman (Rosa Parks) was returning home from work after a long hard day. She sat near the front of the bus because she was tired and her legs hurt. But the bus belonged to the city of Montgomery in the southern state of Alabama. And the year was nineteen fifty-five.
In those days, black people could sit only in the back of the bus. So the driver ordered the woman to give up her seat. But the woman refused, and she was arrested.
Incidents like this had happened before. But no one had ever spoken out against such treatment of blacks. This time, however, a young black preacher organized a protest. He called on all black citizens to stop riding the buses in Montgomery until the laws were changed. The name of the young preacher was Martin Luther King. He led the protest movement to end injustice in the Montgomery city bus system. The protest became known as the Montgomery bus boycott. The protest marked the beginning of the civil rights movement in the United States.
This is the story of Martin Luther King, and his part in the early days of the civil rights movement.
VOICE TWO:
Martin Luther King was born in Atlanta, Georgia, in nineteen twenty-nine. He was born into a religious family.
Martin's father was a preacher at a Baptist church. And his mother came from a family with strong ties to the Baptist religion.
In nineteen twenty-nine, Atlanta was one of the wealthiest cities in the southern part of the United States. Many black families came to the city in search of a better life. There was less racial tension between blacks and whites in Atlanta than in other southern cities. But Atlanta still had laws designed to keep black people separate from whites.
The laws of racial separation existed all over the southern part of the United States. They forced blacks to attend separate schools and live in separate areas of a city. Blacks did not have the same rights as white people, and were often poorer and less educated.
VOICE ONE:
Martin Luther King did not know about racial separation when he was young. But as he grew older, he soon saw that blacks were not treated equally.
One day Martin and his father went out to buy shoes. They entered a shoe store owned by a white businessman.
The businessman sold shoes to all people. But he had a rule that blacks could not buy shoes in the front part of the store. He ordered Martin's father to obey the rule. Martin never forgot his father's angry answer:
"If you do not sell shoes to black people at the front of the store, you will not sell shoes to us at all. "
Such incidents, however, were rare during Martin's early life. Instead, he led the life of a normal boy. Martin liked to learn, and he passed through school very quickly. He was only fifteen when he was ready to enter the university. The university, called Morehouse College, was in Atlanta. Morehouse College was one of the few universities in the South where black students could study.
VOICE TWO:
It was at the university that Martin decided to become a preacher. At the same time, he also discovered he had a gift for public speaking.
He soon was able to test his gifts. One Sunday, Martin's father asked him to preach at his church. When Martin arrived, the church members were surprised to see such a young man getting ready to speak to them. But they were more surprised to find themselves deeply moved by the words of young Martin Luther King.
A church member once described him: "The boy seemed much older than his years. He understood life and its problems."
VOICE ONE:
Martin seemed wise to others because of his studies at the university. He carefully read the works of Mahatma Gandhi, the Indian leader and thinker. Martin also studied the books of the American philosopher, Henry David Thoreau. Both men wrote about ways to fight injustice. Gandhi had led his people to freedom by peacefully refusing to obey unjust laws. He taught his followers never to use violence. Thoreau also urged people to disobey laws that were not just, and to be willing to go to prison for their beliefs.
As he studied, Martin thought he had found the answer for his people. The ideas of Gandhi and Thoreau -- non-violence and civil disobedience -- could be used together to win equal rights for black Americans. Martin knew, then, that his decision to become a preacher was right. He believed that as a preacher he could spread the ideas of Gandhi and Thoreau. Years later he said:
"My university studies gave me the basic truths I now believe. I discovered the idea of humanity's oneness and the dignity and value of all human character. "
VOICE TWO:
Martin continued his studies in religion for almost ten years. When he was twenty-two, he moved north to study in Boston.
It was in Boston that Martin met Coretta Scott, the woman who later became his wife.
Martin always had been very popular with the girls in his hometown. His brother once said that Martin "never had one girlfriend for more than a year".
VOICE ONE:
But Martin felt Coretta Scott was different. The first time he saw her Martin said: "You have everything I have ever wanted in a wife. "
Coretta was surprised at his words. But she felt that Martin was serious and honest. A short time later, they were married. Martin soon finished his studies in Boston, and received a doctorate degree in religion. The young preacher then was offered a job at a church in Montgomery, Alabama.
VOICE TWO:
Martin Luther King and his wife were happy in Montgomery. Their first child was born. Martin's work at the church was going well. He became involved in a number of activities to help the poor. And the members of his church spoke highly of their new preacher. Coretta remembered their life as simple and without worries.
Then, a black woman, Rosa Parks, was arrested for sitting in the white part of a Montgomery city bus. And Martin Luther King organized a protest against the Montgomery bus system.
Martin believed it was very important for the bus boycott to succeed -- more important even than his own life. But he worried about his ability to lead such an important campaign. He was only twenty-six years old. He prayed to God for help and believed that God answered his prayers.
VOICE ONE:
Martin knew that his actions and his speeches would be important for the civil rights movement. But he was faced with a serious problem. He asked: "How can I make my people militant enough to win our goals, while keeping peace within the movement. "
The answer came to him from the teachings of Gandhi and Thoreau. In his first speech as a leader, Martin said:
"We must seek to show we are right through peaceful, not violent means. Love must be the ideal guiding our actions. If we protest bravely, and yet with pride and Christian love, then future historians will say:
"There lived a great people, a black people, who gave new hope to civilization. "
With these words, a new movement was born. It was non-violent and peaceful. But victory was far from sure, and many difficult days of struggle lay ahead.
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ANNOUNCER:
You have been listening to the VOA Special English program, People in America. Your narrators were Warren Scheer and Shep O'Neal. Our program was written by William Rodgers. Listen again next week at this time, when we will complete the story of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Junior.
Below is Part Two of the above story. Click here to view, listen and read The Story of Martin Luther King Jr Part Two on the Mr Robinson's WEbsite, the Mission Language Lab. PEOPLE IN AMERICA, a program in Special English on the Voice of America.
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Today, Shep O'Neal and Warren Scheer finish the story of the life of civil right's leader Martin Luther King, Junior.
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Martin Luther King was born in Atlanta, Georgia, in nineteen twenty-nine. He began his university studies when he was fifteen years old, and received a doctorate degree in religion. He became a preacher at a church in Montgomery, Alabama.
In nineteen fifty-five, a black woman (Rosa Parks) in Montgomery was arrested for sitting in the white part of a city bus. Doctor King became the leader of a protest against the city bus system. It was the first time that black southerners had united against the laws of racial separation.
At first, the white citizens of Montgomery did not believe that the protest would work. They thought most blacks would be afraid to fight against racial separation. But the buses remained empty.
Some whites used tricks to try to end the protest.
They spread false stories about Martin Luther King and other protest leaders. One story accused Martin of stealing money from the civil rights movement. Another story charged that protest leaders rode in cars while other protesters had to walk. But the tricks did not work, and the protest continued.
Doctor King's wife Coretta described how she and her husband felt during the protest. She said: "We never knew what was going to happen next. We felt like actors in a play whose ending we did not know.
Yet we felt a part of history. And we believed we were instruments of the will of God".
The white citizens blamed Doctor King for starting the protest. They thought it would end if he was in prison or dead. Doctor King was arrested twice on false charges. His arrests made national news and he was released. But the threats against his life continued.
The Montgomery bus boycott lasted three hundred eighty-two days. Finally, the United States Supreme Court ruled that racial separation was illegal in the Montgomery bus system. Martin Luther King and his followers had won their struggle. The many months of meetings and protest marches had made victory possible.
They also gave blacks a new feeling of pride and unity. They saw that peaceful protest, Mahatma Gandhi's idea of non-violence, could be used as a tool to win their legal rights.
Life did not return to normal for Doctor King after the protest was over. He had become well known all over the country and throughout the world. He often was asked to speak about his ideas on non-violence. Both black and white Americans soon began to follow his teachings. Groups were formed throughout the south to protest peacefully against racial separation.
The civil rights movement spread so fast that a group of black churchmen formed an organization to guide it. The organization was called the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Martin Luther King became its president.
In his job, Doctor King helped organize many protests in the southern part of the United States. Blacks demanded to be served in areas where only whites were permitted to eat. And they rode in trains and buses formerly for whites only. These protests became known as "freedom rides. " Many of the freedom rides turned violent. Black activists were beaten and arrested. Some were even killed.
In nineteen sixty-three, the black citizens of Birmingham refused to buy goods from the stores in the city. They demanded more jobs for blacks. And they demanded to send their children to white schools. The white citizens were angry and afraid, but they refused to meet the blacks' demands. The situation became tense. Many protestors were beaten and arrested. Even Doctor King was arrested. But he was not in prison for long.
The Birmingham demonstrations made international news. Whites soon saw that it was easier to meet the demands of the protestors than to fight them. Martin Luther King and his followers had won an important victory in Birmingham. It marked a turning point for the civil rights movement.
Martin Luther King recognized the importance of Birmingham. It did not mean that racial separation had ended. Some still remains today. But he felt that the battle was almost won. And he wanted to call on the nation for its support. So doctor king organized a March on Washington, D. C.
The March on Washington took place in August, nineteen sixty-three. About two hundred fifty thousand persons gathered there. They came to demand more jobs and freedom for black Americans. There were to be many other marches in Washington during the nineteen sixties and early seventies. But this was the biggest up to that time.
It was in Washington that Martin Luther King gave one of his most famous speeches. The speech is known as the "I Have a Dream Speech. " It expressed his ideas for the future. Doctor king said:
"So even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal." This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day. When we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"
Martin Luther King received the Nobel Peace Prize in nineteen sixty-four. But he did not live to see the final results of his life's work. He was shot to death in Memphis, Tennessee, in nineteen sixty-eight.
Doctor King always felt he would die a violent death. His life had been threatened wherever he went. And he often spoke to his wife about his fears. But he never believed that his life was more important than the civil rights movement. The night before he died he spoke to his supporters. He said:
"We've got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn't matter with me now. Because I've been to the mountaintop. Like anybody, I would like to live. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land. And I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord."
You have been listening to the story of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Junior. This Special English program was written by William Rodgers. Your narrators were Shep O'Neal and Warren Scheer. I'm Doug Johnson. Listen again next week at this time for another PEOPLE IN AMERICA program on the Voice of America.
Click here or here for the entire "I have a drem Speech".
Click here to view, read and listen to The story of Martin Luther King Jr Part One (above) from Mr Robinson's website, the Mission Language Lab. To view and attempt conprehension check questions on the above stories, click here.
