MLK: The Amazing Upstander

by Ben Reardon, Grade 4

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June 2015

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Author’s Note:

This is my story about Martin Luther King, Jr. Some of it is true and some I made up. Before I wrote this story, I watched a “Crash Course’ video about civil rights and another video about the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. I read a book about Martin Luther King Jr. and put down notes. I just thought about the story.

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Martin and His Dog Molly

Martin and His Friends

When he was a boy, Martin Luther King used to play with some boys that were white named Ben, Jason, Kellan and Sean. They used to play tag and they were best friends. Then the white boys’ parents said they could not play with Martin anymore because he was black. Martin wasn’t angry and didn’t hold a grudge, but he was sad. He didn’t understand why he could not play with his white friends. Then the boys’ families moved away from where Martin lived and they were all very sad.

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MLK and Coretta and Molly

Martin grew up and went to Boston University, where he met a girl named Coretta Scott. They both believed that black people should be able to do whatever white people could do. They got married. They had 4 children and a dog named Molly. Their dog Molly had babies and one of their names was Emerson. Molly used to be a famous show dog but she wasn’t allowed to perform anymore because her owner was black. Martin thought that was really stupid.

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The Kings in Montgomery

The King family lived in Montgomery, Alabama. There they couldn’t use the same restaurants, water fountains or bathrooms as white people, which Martin thought was really unfair.

Rosa Parks

One day as Martin was walking around with his famous dog Molly they bumped into Rosa Parks, who was coming home from work and was tired. So Martin was trying to tell everybody to stand up for themselves and don’t let white people tell them what to do and Molly was barking that message, too. So when Rosa was on the bus that day a white person told her to get up but she wouldn’t. So that’s how the bus boycott happened. Rosa was being a big upstander for herself by sitting wherever she wanted to sit.

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Bus Boycott

The bus boycott was lasting for a very long time and the bus companies were getting low on money. So after 381 days they decided to let the blacks sit wherever on the bus. Martin and Rosa gathered many African Americans and did marches. The fire department came and sprayed them with hoses and Molly and little Emerson went over and bit one of the firefighters. Martin organized marches many times. He never held a grudge against the whites and finally the boycott was over.

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Southern Christian Leadership Conference

After the boycott, Martin and others wanted equal rights for everybody. They started the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. They wanted minorities to go wherever the white people could go. They wanted them to be able to vote, so they asked Congress to let them vote. It was called The Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act.

Old Friends

Martin and the SCLC organized a march on Washington D.C. where thousands of black and whites marched in support of civil rights. As Martin gave a speech called “I Have a Dream,” he scanned the crowd and found his old friends Ben, Kellan, Jason and Sean in the crowd. They were supporting him because they hated it when they had to move away and couldn’t play with him. It made Martin feel really excited that his friends were there. He had never held a grudge against them and he was happy that he had not, because they were upstanders too.

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What I Learned

I learned that when they did the marches, Martin wasn’t just the organizer. He never made a fight, he got people to do it without fighting and using his words, and finally it was over.

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How to be an Upstander

If you see a kid being bullied you can go over to the bully and say “Stop!” and try to stop it. Martin did this, only it was a lot bigger: it was the entire world!

The Value I Chose

I chose as the most important Jewish value about “Love Your Neighbor”: Don’t take revenge; don’t hold a grudge; forgive. In my own words that means if they do something wrong you can forgive them. Also if you get in a fight you don’t have to stay mad. Martin did this with his friends and in the bus boycott.

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