A Picture Book of Martin Luther King Jr. By David A. Adler. Illustrated by Robert Casilla.
Martin Luther King, Jr. was one of America’s great leaders.
He was a powerful speaker, and he spoke out against laws which kept black people out of many schools and jobs.
He led protests and marches demanding fair laws for all people.
Martin Luther King, Jr. was born on January 15, 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia.
Martin’s father was a pastor. His mother had been a teacher.
Martin had an older sister, Willie Christine, and a younger brother, Alfred Daniel.
Young Martin liked to play baseball, football, and basketball.
He liked to ride his bicycle and to sing. He often sang in his father’s church.
This picture shows MLK in the middle, his brother to the left and his sister to the right.
Young Martin played in his backyard with his friends.
One day he was told that two of his friends would no longer play with him, because they were white and he was black.
Martin cried. He didn’t understand why the color of his skin should matter to anyone.
Martin’s mother told him that many years ago black people were brought in chains to America and sold as slaves.
She told him that long before Martin was born the slaves had been set free.
However, there were still some people who did not treat black people fairly.
In Atlanta, where Martin lived, and elsewhere in the United States, there were “White Only” signs.
Black people were not allowed in some parks, pools, hotels, restaurants and even schools.
Blacks were kept out of many jobs.
Martin learned to read at home before he was old enough to start school.
All through his childhood, he read books about black leaders.
For example Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman and George Washington Carver.
Martin was a good student.
He finished high school two years early and was just fifteen when he entered Morehouse College in Atlanta.
At college Martin decided to become a minister.
After Martin was graduated from Morehouse, he studied for a doctorate at Boston University.
While he was there he met Coretta Scott. She was studying music. They fell in love and married.
In 1954 Martin Luther King, Jr. began his first job as a pastor in Montgomery, Alabama.
The next year Rosa Parks, a black woman, was arrested in Montgomery.
She had been sitting just behind the “White Only” section on a bus.
When all the seats in that section were taken, the driver told her to get up, so a white man could have her seat.
Rosa Parks refused.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. led a protest. Blacks throughout the city refused to ride the buses.
Dr. King said, “There comes a time when people get tired of being kicked about.”
One night, while Dr. King was at a meeting, someone threw a bomb into his house.
Martin’s followers were angry. They wanted to fight. Martin told them to go home peacefully.
“We must love our white brothers,” he said. “We must meet hate with love.”
The bus protest lasted almost a year. When it ended there were no more “White Only” sections on buses.
Dr. King decided to move back to Atlanta in 1960.
There, he continued to lead peaceful protests against “White Only” waiting rooms, lunch counters and rest rooms.
He led many marches for freedom.
In 1963 Dr. King led the biggest march of all -- the March on Washington.
More than two hundred thousand  black and white people followed him.
“I have a dream,” he said in his speech.
“I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin
but by the content of their character.”
The next year in 1964, Dr. King was awarded one of the greatest honors any person can win, the Nobel Peace Prize.
The country was changing. New laws were passed. Blacks could go to the same schools as whites.
They could go to the same stores, restaurants and hotels. “White Only” signs were against the law.
Dr. King told his followers to protest peacefully. But there were some riots and some violence.
Then in April 1968, Dr. King went to Memphis, Tennessee.
He planned to march so black and white garbage workers would get the same pay for the same work.
On April 4 in Memphis, Dr. King stood outside his motel room. Another man, James Earl Ray, was hiding nearby.
He pointed a rifle at Dr. King. He fired the gun. An hour later Dr. King was dead.
Martin Luther King, Jr. dreamed of a world free of hate, prejudice and violence.
Carved on the stone which marks his grave are the words, “I’m free at last.”
Important dates:
1929  Born on January 15 in Atlanta, Georgia
1947  Ordained a minister
1953  Married Corretta Scott in Marion, Alabama
1955-1956 Led boycott of Montgomery, Alabama buses
1963  Led the March on Washington on August 28 and gave his “I Have a Dream” speech from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.
1964  Was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
1968  Assasinated on April 4 in Memphis, Tennessee
1983  The third Monday in January was declared an annual federal holiday by the United States Congress to honor the life and ideals of Martin Luther King, Jr.
