“I have a dream that my four little 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. I have a dream today!”
The Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., said these words in his famous “I Have a Dream” speech in Washington, D.C., in 1963. He was America’s most prominent civil rights leader. The civil rights movement was the struggle to get laws and attitudes changed so that black Americans could have rights equal to those of white Americans.
A PREACHER’S SON
King was born in Atlanta, Georgia, in January 1929. His father and grandfather were preachers at the large all-black Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. King himself became a preacher at age 18.
While attending graduate school in Boston, he met Coretta Scott. The couple married in 1953. The following year King’s first job as a minister took him to Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama.
CIVIL RIGHTS
In the 1950s, black people were not treated very well in the United States. Public places, including schools and restrooms, were segregated in many Southern states. That means that there were separate buildings or areas for black people and for white people. Even in Northern states, black people often weren’t allowed to live in nicer neighborhoods. They were rarely hired for good jobs. Their children could not go to good schools. In some places they even had to give up their seats on buses if a white person wanted to sit down.
In 1955, police in Montgomery arrested a black woman named Rosa Parks for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white man. Black people in the city started a boycott of the bus system. They refused to use it as long as it did not treat them equally. The boycott’s leaders chose King as their spokesman.
For nearly a year Montgomery’s black residents refused to ride the city’s buses. They walked and rode in car pools. They took their case to court.
The Supreme Court of the United States ruled in favor of the protestors. The nation’s highest court said segregation on public buses was illegal not only in Montgomery, but everywhere in the nation. That ruling was a great victory for civil rights.
A NATIONAL LEADER
King was an excellent speaker. “We have gained a new sense of dignity and destiny,” he said after the Montgomery victory. “We have discovered a new and powerful weapon—nonviolent resistance.” King’s speeches appealed to both Christian principles and American ideals. Time magazine and other magazines and newspapers featured the handsome young preacher on their covers.
King was one of the leaders of a protest in Birmingham, Alabama, that attracted worldwide attention. Policemen attacked peaceful marchers, including schoolchildren carrying small American flags.
The Birmingham police arrested King. In jail he wrote a letter to local ministers who had criticized him for disrupting the city. King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” expressed his belief that individuals had the moral right and responsibility to disobey unjust laws. The letter enhanced King’s reputation as a moral leader.
KING’S MOST FAMOUS SPEECH
On August 28, 1963, the March on Washington took place. More than 200,000 people gathered to hear King give his “I Have a Dream” speech from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.
The protests in Birmingham and in Washington helped convince the U.S. Congress to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This act made it illegal in America to treat blacks or other ethnic groups unfairly.
That same year King’s peaceful efforts to win civil rights earned him the Nobel Peace Prize.
ASSASSINATION
King’s opinions and success in winning civil rights angered many people. In the spring of 1968, he traveled to Memphis, Tennessee, to support the city’s black garbage workers. The workers refused to collect the garbage until the city gave them better working conditions. While there, King was shot and killed by James Earl Ray, a white man who had escaped from jail.
King is remembered for the great changes he made to American society and for the peaceful means that he used to make them. The third Monday of every January is a national holiday that honors King’s birthday.
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Keep Fit By Excercising
People exercise to keep healthy. They exercise to lose weight or to stay fit. They exercise to make their muscles bigger and stronger. Maybe you play soccer or some other sport for exercise. Getting exercise can be fun and can make you feel good.
Exercise is a big part of staying physically fit. People who are physically fit are alert and full of energy. Exercise can also help people handle stress. Exercise is especially good for children, teens, and older persons.
NOT ALL EXERCISE IS THE SAME
There are two main types of exercise: aerobic and anaerobic. Aerobic exercise works big muscles in your arms and legs. Aerobic exercise makes your muscles use oxygen faster than usual. It makes your heart and lungs work harder to supply your muscles with oxygen. Running, walking, jogging, and swimming are kinds of aerobic exercise.
Anaerobic exercise works just a few muscles at a time. Weightlifting is a kind of anaerobic exercise. Weightlifting and other kinds of anaerobic exercise make your muscles bigger and stronger. Anaerobic exercise does not require a lot of oxygen. It does not work your heart or lungs. You can only do anaerobic exercise for short periods of time because the muscles you’re using quickly get tired.
EXERCISE THAT HELPS THE HEART
Doctors say that regular aerobic exercise leads to a healthier heart. Jogging, walking, riding a bicycle, and other aerobic exercises lower the risk of heart disease. In one kind of heart disease, fatty stuff called plaque builds up in blood vessels going to the heart. Aerobic exercise helps prevent this buildup. Aerobic exercise also makes the heart and lungs stronger.
Doctors say you should do 20 to 30 minutes of aerobic exercise at least three times a week. You need to exercise hard enough to get your heart beating faster than normal. You can feel your heart beating. Use two fingers to feel a beat, or pulse, in your wrist or neck.
EXERCISE THAT INCREASES STRENGTH
Some kinds of exercise are better at increasing strength than others. Usually people work out with weights if they want to improve their muscle strength. They use free weights, weights that are not attached to anything, such as barbells. Or they use strength-training machines. Strength training can also make bones stronger.
It is a good idea to have a trainer or physical education teacher show you how to lift weights properly. It is important not to injure yourself when lifting weights. Start out with small weights. Try lifting heavier and heavier weights as your muscles get stronger.
EXERCISE THAT HELPS CONTROL WEIGHT
Aerobic exercise can help you lose weight. It can help you stay at a healthy weight. Aerobic exercise burns calories.
A calorie is a unit of measurement. It measures the amount of energy in foods. It measures the amount of energy your body uses.
When you take in the same number of calories that you burn every day, your weight stays the same. If you take in more calories than you burn, you gain weight. If you take in fewer calories than you burn, you lose weight. Regular exercise helps you burn calories.
Strength training may also help with weight control. Lifting weights burns calories. Lifting weights also makes more muscle in your body. Muscles burn more calories than fat.
EXERCISE THAT MAKES YOU FLEXIBLE
Stretching exercises can make your body more flexible. There are stretches for your arms, legs, neck, and trunk. Many people do slow exercises and stretches called yoga to make their bodies more flexible. A physical education teacher can show you how to do stretches.
You should do warm-up stretches before you do aerobic or anaerobic exercises. You should do cool-down stretches when you are finished exercising. Warm-up and cool-down stretches can help prevent muscle injuries.
Exercise is a big part of staying physically fit. People who are physically fit are alert and full of energy. Exercise can also help people handle stress. Exercise is especially good for children, teens, and older persons.
NOT ALL EXERCISE IS THE SAME
There are two main types of exercise: aerobic and anaerobic. Aerobic exercise works big muscles in your arms and legs. Aerobic exercise makes your muscles use oxygen faster than usual. It makes your heart and lungs work harder to supply your muscles with oxygen. Running, walking, jogging, and swimming are kinds of aerobic exercise.
Anaerobic exercise works just a few muscles at a time. Weightlifting is a kind of anaerobic exercise. Weightlifting and other kinds of anaerobic exercise make your muscles bigger and stronger. Anaerobic exercise does not require a lot of oxygen. It does not work your heart or lungs. You can only do anaerobic exercise for short periods of time because the muscles you’re using quickly get tired.
EXERCISE THAT HELPS THE HEART
Doctors say that regular aerobic exercise leads to a healthier heart. Jogging, walking, riding a bicycle, and other aerobic exercises lower the risk of heart disease. In one kind of heart disease, fatty stuff called plaque builds up in blood vessels going to the heart. Aerobic exercise helps prevent this buildup. Aerobic exercise also makes the heart and lungs stronger.
Doctors say you should do 20 to 30 minutes of aerobic exercise at least three times a week. You need to exercise hard enough to get your heart beating faster than normal. You can feel your heart beating. Use two fingers to feel a beat, or pulse, in your wrist or neck.
EXERCISE THAT INCREASES STRENGTH
Some kinds of exercise are better at increasing strength than others. Usually people work out with weights if they want to improve their muscle strength. They use free weights, weights that are not attached to anything, such as barbells. Or they use strength-training machines. Strength training can also make bones stronger.
It is a good idea to have a trainer or physical education teacher show you how to lift weights properly. It is important not to injure yourself when lifting weights. Start out with small weights. Try lifting heavier and heavier weights as your muscles get stronger.
EXERCISE THAT HELPS CONTROL WEIGHT
Aerobic exercise can help you lose weight. It can help you stay at a healthy weight. Aerobic exercise burns calories.
A calorie is a unit of measurement. It measures the amount of energy in foods. It measures the amount of energy your body uses.
When you take in the same number of calories that you burn every day, your weight stays the same. If you take in more calories than you burn, you gain weight. If you take in fewer calories than you burn, you lose weight. Regular exercise helps you burn calories.
Strength training may also help with weight control. Lifting weights burns calories. Lifting weights also makes more muscle in your body. Muscles burn more calories than fat.
EXERCISE THAT MAKES YOU FLEXIBLE
Stretching exercises can make your body more flexible. There are stretches for your arms, legs, neck, and trunk. Many people do slow exercises and stretches called yoga to make their bodies more flexible. A physical education teacher can show you how to do stretches.
You should do warm-up stretches before you do aerobic or anaerobic exercises. You should do cool-down stretches when you are finished exercising. Warm-up and cool-down stretches can help prevent muscle injuries.
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