They Had a Dream – Famous African Americans
Before reading Scan the timeline on page 90–91 and find out when the first African Americans came to the USA.
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slavery slaveri
After slavery was over in 1865, white people still discriminated against African American people. White people and black people went to different schools, different churches and different stores. Here are three African American people who had a dream that life could be better for people of all colours in the USA.
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Rosa Parks
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Rosa Parks fought for her rights in the African American Civil Rights Movement. One day, in 1955, she was on her way home from work in Montgomery, Alabama. She found a seat at the front of the bus. When a white man got on the full bus, the bus driver told her to give him her seat. Rosa refused. The bus driver called the police and Rosa was arrested. Martin Luther King, Jr. and other African Americans thought this was unfair. They decided to start a boycott. Black people didn’t take the buses for over a year. They also took Rosa’s case to court. The African Americans won the court case. The Supreme Court, the highest court in the country, said everyone was free to sit wherever they liked on buses. Rosa Parks became famous for her fight for equal rights. President Clinton gave her the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1996. There are many streets, schools, libraries and parks named after Rosa Parks in the USA.
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Civil Rights Movement borgerrettighetsbevegelse
took the case to court tok saken til retten court case rettssak
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Parks’ arrest was no coincidence. She was an active member of the Civil Rights Movement and took part in many protests and demonstrations.
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