FEELINGS

Look at the faces and decide which one best describes your feelings today. They are very funny!

BUS BOYCOTT

African - Americans paid their fares at the front of the bus. But then they had to get off the bus and walk to the rear to enter it. They had to sit in a special section in the back of the bus. If a white person got on the bus and found no seat, the driver would tell the African - American person sitting nearest the front to move and give the white person his seat.

And that's what Rosa Parks refused to do on December 1, 1955. She was tired after working all day sewing dresses and suits. "I'm not going to move," she repeated to the driver. Rosa was arrested and taken to jail.

Word about Rosa's protest spread. African - Americans refused to ride the buses, and the bus company lost thousands of dollars. Rosa's lawyers went to court to prove that the bus company was not obeying the United States Constitution when it treated African - Americans unfairly. After almost a year, the Supreme Court said that the bus company had to change its rules. African - Americans were allowed to enter the bus from the front and sit anywhere they chose. No one had to give up his seat.

Rosa Parks helped make a big change in the United States because she was tired - tired of being treated unfairly.


ACTIVITY:
List the differences between the treatment of whites and African - Americans in 1955.

ROSA PARKS

"No", Rosa Parks replied quietly to the bus driver. "I'm not going to get up and give my seat to a white person." It wasn't the first time Rosa had felt angry about the rules which treated people differently. When she was a little girl, Rosa had hated the water fountains marked "colored" for the African - Americans to use. She didn't like the old, crowded schools she attended while the white children went to new ones. Rosa disliked the fact that she could not sit down and drink a soda at the same lunch counter where white people were served. But the way African - Americans were treated on the city buses in Montgomery, Alabama, made Rosa angriest of all.

Martin Luther King

On January 15, people in the United States celebrate the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. They not only honour a great American and civil rights leader, but they also renew their faith in the dream he had for all Americans. This important day is celebrated on the third Monday of January each year. This year is celebrated on the 19th.

Dr. Martin Luther King thought that prejudice is harmful to everyone because it cuts people off from opportunities to learn and grow from interaction with "different" people. He also believed that deeply in the need for all people to share in a commitment to work together and help each other. He had a vision for America. His dream for a free and equal society became an inspiration for his followers.