The Life of Martin Luther King
One afternoon in 1935 a six-year-old boy came home from school and ran across the road outside his home to play with two of his friends.
His family called him ‘Mike’ or M.L, but he was later to be known as Martin Luther King. He was the son of a minister at the local Baptist church in Atlanta, Georgia, a bustling city in the southeast corner of the United States.
The King family was greatly respected in Atlanta.
Martin’s grandfather had founded the church and his father was an important figure in the local community.
His friends were the two children of the local grocer, and he had played with them for as long as he could remember. But they and Martin had now started different schools and Martin was anxious to find out what their school life was like compared to his own.
He was surprised when their mother told him that they could no longer play with him.
He asked her why, but at first she just made excuses, saying the boys were too busy.
Martin was puzzled and asked her again for the reason. Finally she told him.
They were white and he was black and now that the children had all reached school age, they must go their separate ways.
Hurt and confused he asked his own mother to explain.
’Don’t let this thing worry you; don’t let it make you feel you are not as good as white people. You are as good as anyone else, and don’t you forget it’.