Wrap Your Head Around History: American Civil Rights and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Chapter One – A History of Insults
A good way for children of all ages to get an idea of how it all went down. Written for parents who want their children to be inspired to think past the basic events.
Michael Luther King was born on January 15, 1929, and when he got older he decided to change his name to Martin. One of his heroes was a man named Martin Luther who lived during the 1500’s, when the Catholic Church was very powerful. The leaders of the church preached that a person would go to Hell if his or her sins were not forgiven, and the only way to have one’s sins forgiven was by making a donation to the church. This rule was fine for those who had the money to pay a priest for his blessing, but what would become of those who had nothing? It didn’t seem right to Martin that a good man could be denied a place in Heaven just because he was poor. To make matters worse, many priests were using the donation money to fund their lavish lifestyles while the faithful followers were starving. Martin Luther, a Catholic monk, wrote a long letter detailing all of the unfair practices the church should change, and nailed it right to the front door. When the leaders of the church ignored Martin’s complaints, he started a whole new religion. In the 1500’s it was very dangerous to say anything against The Catholic Church, and many who tried were imprisoned or murdered. Centuries later, a young man named Michael Luther King changed his name to Martin Luther King in honor of his brave hero.
The story of Dr. Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement begins with America’s past as a slaveholding nation. Today, most countries have realized it is terribly wrong to own another human being, but until the end of the 1700’s slavery was a common practice throughout the world. In order to explain themselves, American slave owners would say black people, or “negroes,” as they were known at the time, were not really human. There were even studies done on the subject, concluding the African brain was smaller than the Caucasian (a fancy way of saying “white”), and slaves were better off having a “master,” because they didn’t have the ability to care for themselves and needed to be told what to do. Sometimes, people blindly go along with an unfair custom because it has always been that way, and it can take a long time before enough people argue for change.
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