Growing Up Elizabeth May: The Making of an Activist

Growing Up Elizabeth May: The Making of an Activist — page 9
It’s a Fact In March 1965 Martin Luther King Jr and his wife Coretta Scott King lead a voting-rights march for 50 miles from Selma AL to the state capitol in Montgomery Their march led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act Martin Luther King Jr was born in Atlanta Georgia in 1929 He was a Black American Baptist minister who believed in equal rights for all citizens and supporting those rights through nonviolent protest He was a leader in the civil rights movement and changed history by influencing hundreds of thousands of people He motivated the government to change racist laws and policies in the United States He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 when he was only 35 years old Sadly he was assassinated four years later SPARKS Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King Jr are superstars in history They were activists who became famous for their work But Elizabeth knew they didn’t change the world alone They were the sparks They got other people concerned and excited about important issues Then together with regular people like you and me they made change in the world Each one of us can become sparks as well We can get other people excited one person at a time until there are millions of people fixing the world’s problems Elizabeth started to help change the world when she was a young girl and she has never stopped In elementary school she 8