3e Martin Luther King

(Civilisation)

Martin Luther King was born in Atlanta, Georgia on January 15th, 1929.
His family had a comfortable home and a happy life and when he was little,
Martin had many white friends. But at that time, segregation of Blacks and
Whites was common in America – on buses, at school, at the restaurants
and most public places.

Martin learnt what segregation meant when he started school – he had to

go to a school for black children and his friends went to one for Whites. His
father taught him to believe he was as good as Whites and refused to
accept segregation. One day, when Martin was 8, he went with his father
to buy some shoes. They sat down at the front of the shop but the shop
assistant said they had to sit at the back. So they got up and left. This was
an example of the sort of action for which Martin Luther King later became
famous: non-violent protest.

When he was at college*, he heard of Gandhi’s message of non-violence

and he met his wife, Coretta. They got married on June 18th, 1953 and
moved to Montgomery, Alabama where King was a pastor in a Baptist
church. In December 1955, something happened that changed his life.
Rosa Parks, a black woman living in Montgomery, refused to give her seat
on the bus to a white passenger and was arrested by the police. Soon,
Martin Luther King became the Civil Right Movement’s leader to fight
segregation and work for the black people’s rights. When he spoke in
Washington in 1963, a quarter of a million people came to listen to him. He
said, “I have a dream that my four little children will live in a nation
where they will not be judged by the color of their skin…”

Five years later, in 1968, he was assassinated outside a hotel in Memphis

because of his civil right activities. But his dream has never died.

*college = university (c’est ce qu’on appelle un “faux ami” car il ressemble à un terme
français mais n’en possède pas le sens – Ex: a figure = chiffre / a place = un lieu)

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Nom : ………………………………………………… Date : ……./……/20………

Compréhension Globale

1. Type of text? □ novel □ poem □ biography

2. The Main Character.

 Name of the main character: _____________________________

 Date and place of birth: ________________________________
 Date and place of death: ________________________________

3. Relève tous les mots transparents du texte, puis essaie de les traduire sans
dictionnaire.

Transparent words Translation

Les mots transparents ont une orthographe tellement semblable à l’orthographe des mots
français qu’on en comprend le sens sans difficulté. Ex : hour = heure / minutes = minutes

 Quel mot transparent revient 4 fois dans le texte ? _____________________

 Peux-tu définir ce terme avec tes propres mots ? _______________________

4. Les noms propres.

Names Time Places

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 Compréhension Détaillée

1. Souligne les six dates et autres indices temporels clés dans le texte. A
chaque date correspond un épisode essentiel de la vie de M.L. King.
A toi de les noter sur la chronologie suivante :

2. RIGHT OR WRONG ?
a) When he was a child, Martin Luther King went to school with his white friends.
□ right □ wrong
b) Martin Luther King, like Gandhi, believed in non-violence.
□ right □ wrong
c) The story Rosa Parks is an example of segregation at that time.
□ right □ wrong

Parlons grammaire…
1. Trouve la question à l’aide des éléments soulignés.
a) Martin Luther King was born on January, 15th, 1929.
___________________________________________
b) He met his wife when he was at college.
___________________________________________
2. Ecris en toutes lettres…
a) 1968 : _____________________________________________
b) June 18th, 1953 : _______________________________________

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