Who Was Martin Luther King Jr 马丁·路德·金 Chapter 8 I Have a Dream

Birmingham proved to black people all around the country what protesting could do. From North Carolina to Tennessee to Oklahoma, black Americans marched and held sit-ins. They held protests in front of government buildings. Gradually, thousands of lunch counters, hotels, schools, and parks became integrated.
Then, on June 11, 1963, President Kennedy asked Congress to pass a Civil Rights Bill. Kennedy said, “I am . . . asking the Congress to enact¹ legislation giving all Americans the right to be served in facilities which are open to the public—hotels, restaurants and theaters, retail² stores and similar establishments. This seems to me to be an elementary right.”
On August 28, 1963, Martin and other black leaders led a march to Washington, D.C. They wanted to show Congress how many people supported the Civil Rights Bill. More than two hundred and fifty thousand Americans came from all over the United States. Many rode in cars and buses. Others flew in airplanes. Some walked. Some roller-skated.
Most of the marchers were black. But there were also thousands of white people. They, too, felt that the laws of segregation³ were unjust. The people marched toward the Lincoln Memorial, singing along the way.
Many leaders spoke⁴ that day, but Martin was unforgettable. Martin had written a speech. But he did not read it. Once he faced the crowd, he remembered a speech he’d given a few months before.
In that speech, he had used the phrase “I have a dream” over and over to express his hopes for the future. Martin wanted to use those same words again. So he put down his script and spoke. His dream was “that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood⁵. . . .” He had a dream that one day people would judge his four young children for who they were and not by the color of their skin.
Martin’s speech ended on a powerful note of hope. He believed that, when that day came, everyone could join hands and sing the words to an old slave song: “Free at last, free at last. Thank God Almighty⁶, we are free at last.”
The march and Martin Luther King, Jr.’s speech were carried on television stations. It was the first time millions of Americans heard Martin speak. His words inspired the crowd. His words inspired the nation. His words inspired the entire world. Because of this speech, Martin Luther King, Jr., became the voice of the civil rights movement.
THE GETTYSBURG ADDRESS
ALMOST EXACTLY ONE HUNDRED YEARS BEFORE PRESIDENT KENNEDY’S SPEECH TO CONGRESS ABOUT THE CIVIL RIGHTS BILL, PRESIDENT ABRAHAM LINCOLN DELIVERED THE GETTYSBURG ADDRESS. IT, TOO, WAS ABOUT CIVIL RIGHTS. IT IS STILL ONE OF THE MOST FAMOUS SPEECHES In AMERICAN HISTORY.
On NOVEMBER 19, 1863, PRESIDENT LInCOLn SPOKE ABOUT FREEDOM AND DEMOCRACY. IT WAS DURING THE CIVIL WAR AND HE GAVE THE SPEECH In GETTYSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA, WHERE A GREAT BATTLE HAD BEEN WON BY THE NORTH. HE SAID THAT “FOURSCORE AND SEVEN YEARS AGO,” OR EIGHTY-SEVEN YEARS EARLIER, THE NATION WAS FORMED WITH THE IDEA THAT “ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL.” HE WANTED A “GOVERNMENT OF THE PEOPLE, BY THE PEOPLE, FOR THE PEOPLE.”
YET, ONE HUNDRED YEARS AFTER THE GETTYSBURG ADDRESS, LINCOLN’S DREAMS OF EQUALITY WERE STILL NOT FULLY⁷ REALIZED.
But just two weeks later, on September 15, 1963, disaster struck. A blast rocked the early morning silence in Birmingham, Alabama. A bomb went off in the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church. Four black girls lay dead. They were Denise McNair, age eleven; Carole Robertson, age fourteen; Cynthia Wesley, age fourteen; and Addie Mae Collins, age fourteen.
People all around the country were shocked. Martin was filled with grief and bitterness. He contacted President Kennedy to say that he was going to Birmingham to make sure that there was no violent reaction by blacks to the bombing. President Kennedy sent twenty-five FBI agents and bomb experts to investigate. Then, on November 22, 1963, disaster struck again. President John F. Kennedy was shot dead in Dallas, Texas. He was the fourth U.S. president to be killed while in office.
The vice⁸ president, Lyndon B. Johnson, became president. Five days after President Kennedy’s death, President Johnson spoke to Congress. He asked them to pass the Civil Rights Bill that Kennedy had wanted. This was the best way to honor President Kennedy’s memory.
Congress agreed. On July 2, 1964—almost one hundred years after the country saw the end of slavery—President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act. And standing⁹ next to President Johnson when he signed the bill was Martin Luther King, Jr.
MAJOR FEATURES OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1964
• ANYONE COULD REGISTER TO VOTE. LITERACY TESTS (TO SEE IF VOTERS, BOTH BLACK AND WHITE, COULD READ AND WRITE) COULD STILL BE GIVEN.
• DISCRIMINATION In HOTELS, MOTELS, RESTAURANTS, AND OTHER PUBLIC PLACES WAS OUTLAWED¹⁰.
• THE ATTORNEY GENERAL COULD TAKE SEGREGATED¹¹ SCHOOLS TO COURT.
• MONEY WOULD BE TAKEN AWAY FROM ANY STATE PROGRAMS THAT PRACTICED DISCRIMINATION.
• COMPANIES WITH MORE THAN FIFTEEN EMPLOYEES COULD NOT DISCRIMINATE¹² AMONG THE WORKERS.

1 enact   

vt.制定(法律)；上演，扮演

参考例句：

• The U.S. Congress has exclusive authority to enact federal legislation.美国国会是唯一有权颁布联邦法律的。
• For example,a country can enact laws and economic policies to attract foreign investment fairly quickly.例如一个国家可以很快颁布吸引外资的法令和经济政策。

2 retail   

v./n.零售；adv.以零售价格

参考例句：

• In this shop they retail tobacco and sweets.这家铺子零售香烟和糖果。
• These shoes retail at 10 yuan a pair.这些鞋子零卖10元一双。

3 segregation   

n.隔离，种族隔离

参考例句：

• Many school boards found segregation a hot potato in the early 1960s.在60年代初，许多学校部门都觉得按水平分班是一个棘手的问题。
• They were tired to death of segregation and of being kicked around.他们十分厌恶种族隔离和总是被人踢来踢去。

4 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

5 brotherhood   

n.兄弟般的关系，手中情谊

参考例句：

• They broke up the brotherhood.他们断绝了兄弟关系。
• They live and work together in complete equality and brotherhood.他们完全平等和兄弟般地在一起生活和工作。

6 almighty   

adj.全能的，万能的；很大的，很强的

参考例句：

• Those rebels did not really challenge Gods almighty power.这些叛徒没有对上帝的全能力量表示怀疑。
• It's almighty cold outside.外面冷得要命。

7 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

8 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

9 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

10 outlawed   

宣布…为不合法（outlaw的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• Most states have outlawed the use of marijuana. 大多数州都宣布使用大麻为非法行为。
• I hope the sale of tobacco will be outlawed someday. 我希望有朝一日烟草制品会禁止销售。

11 segregated   

分开的； 被隔离的

参考例句：

• a culture in which women are segregated from men 妇女受到隔离歧视的文化
• The doctor segregated the child sick with scarlet fever. 大夫把患猩红热的孩子隔离起来。

12 discriminate   

v.区别，辨别，区分；有区别地对待

参考例句：

• You must learn to discriminate between facts and opinions.你必须学会把事实和看法区分出来。
• They can discriminate hundreds of colours.他们能分辨上百种颜色。