OUR NATION CELEBRATES BLACK HISTORY MONTH

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OUR NATION CELEBRATES BLACK HISTORY MONTH
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Black History Month is celebrated
in February. We are asked to remember the many
African-Americans in our country who struggled
for civil rights.
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What are civil rights?
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These are the freedoms that many of us take for
granted.
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They are the freedom to go to school where we
want to
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To work at a job we are interested and talented
in
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To live in a house and neighborhood where we
want
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And to vote for our own leaders.
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But not everyone in our country has always been
treated equally.
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Sometimes, African-Americans were treated
differently and unfairly.
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Not everyone has had these civil rights.
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Our history is full of very brave people who
fought for equality.
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That means, they fought for their civil rights.
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Lets take a look at some of these leaders who
wanted civil rights for themselves and other
African-Americans.
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Sojourner Truth worked as a womens rights
activist in New York and other states in the
early 1800s. She began her work with groups
designed to assist all women and was a speaker
all over the country speaking for womens rights.
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Harriet Tubman was another slave who worked to
free slaves.  She ran away and helped other
slaves escape to freedom through the Underground
Railroad.
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Frederick Douglas started his own newspaper
called the North Star, in which he wrote against
slavery. Frederick Douglass continued to travel
around the country giving speeches about how he
was a slave and what it was like for him growing
up. He tried to convince his listeners to fight
against the evils of slavery.
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Homer Plessy was arrested for being in the wrong
part of the train.  He fought against
discrimination on trains in a famous Supreme
Court case.
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Rosa Parks was arrested for sitting in the wrong
part of the bus!  She worked with civil rights
organizations to start the Montgomery Bus Boycott
and help end segregation on buses in the South.
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Martin Luther King, Jr. was a preacher and leader
of African-Americans. He fought for people to be
judged by their contributions, not the color of
their skin.
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Linda Brown, just a 4th grade student, and her
family fought for her right to attend the white
school in her own neighborhood.
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Malcolm X was a leader of African-Americans
during an important time in the 1960s when many
people won rights to attend schools, and have
equal jobs for equal pay.
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Jesse Jackson worked with Martin Luther King and
continues to speak for equal rights for all
people in America today.
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OUR NATION CELEBRATES BLACK HISTORY MONTH