Poetry
By Amy
Martin Luther King Jr.
Not
so long ago,
People were treated extremely unfairly,
Because of the color of their skin,
Not so long ago,
There were segregation laws,
That said if a person was white,
They had more rights than an African-American person
Martin Luther King Jr. thought that segregation laws were wrong,
And that it didn’t matter what color skin you had,
Because everybody is a person,
And all people should be treated fairly
http://bert.lib.indiana.edu:2127/eb/art-9456?articleTypeId=1
Martin
Luther King Jr. spoke out for the rights of African-American people,
He spoke out against segregation, discrimination, and hate
He stood up for the rights of all people,
Even though he was sent to jail several times
Rosa Parks
Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white man,
And was sent to jail,
Because she was an African-American who didn’t give up her seat
Apparently, this white man needed her seat more than she did,
But she knew that this wasn’t right,
And that she needed that seat,
She knew that it didn’t matter that her skin color was different
http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/photocredit/achievers/par0-014
Martin Luther King Jr. organized the Montgomery Bus Boycott,
After Rosa Parks was arrested,
The African-Americans of Montgomery wouldn’t ride the buses,
Because they knew that they should have just as many rights as the people who were white
Ruby Bridges
“She just marched along like a little soldier,” said a federal marshal.
Ruby Bridges was a courageous six year old girl,
Who went to a school for white children,
And who was escorted to school,
By
federal marshals,
Through a mob of angry white people,
Who wanted to hurt her
“We’re going to poison you until you choke to death,” a white woman told Ruby Bridges.
Ruby Bridges refused to eat anything except packaged foods,
Because she was worried that she would be poisoned,
By angry white people,
Who wanted to kill,
A little six year old girl,
That was going to a white school
http://www.laheritage.org/EducatorArea/AfricanAmericanLife/images/part3/ruby_bridges.jpg
“My mom said not to play with you because you’re a nigger,” a white boy told Ruby Bridges.
The parents of the white children,
Pulled their children out of the school
Ruby Bridges was the only child in her class,
And only one teacher was willing to teach her,
For a year,
But after a year,
All the white children came back
Martin Luther King Jr. Biography
Other People who participated in the Civil Rights Movement