It was hard to live in the southern states of America in the 1950s if you didn’t have white skin. The laws said that everyone had equal rights, but the laws also said that black people had to stay separated from white people. Blacks and whites were segregated. They had to use separate bathrooms and drinking fountains, go to separate schools, and eat at separate restaurants. The law said that it was okay to keep blacks and whites separated because they would be “separate but equal.” The problem was that things were not equal for black Americans.
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Important Words List
The history of Dr. King has a lot of words that might be new to you. If you read them in context, these new words make more sense. In your reading, look for these words in bold. Find clues in the rest of the sentence to make a logical guess about the meaning of these new words. Then, look them up in the dictionary to find the real definitions.
boycott
segregation
unjust
protest
nonviolent
register (to vote)
union
strike
civil rights
democracy
justice
love
hope
