Places I've been

The Lincoln Memorial on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a Civil Rights Activist (someone who believes that everyone should be treated the same no matter who they are) during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s. This movement was a time in the United States when people were trying to change the way African Americans were being treated. For a really long time people were not being fair to the African Americans and were separating them from everyone else.  For example, if your friend was black then she or he would have to go to a different school than you, drink from a different water fountain, and ride in the back of the bus.

photo of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 

        Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Dr. King wanted to change the way African Americans were being treated. To get people to pay attention to his ideas he led peaceful marches and boycotts. He also gave a lot of speeches, including a really famous one called “I have a Dream.”  He gave this speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in front of 250,000 people. They gathered there during the March on Washington, a very important moment in the Civil Rights Movement.
The place where he gave the speech is marked in the front of the Lincoln Memorial, so I stood in the very same spot! Here's a picture of the view from the steps of the memorial.

Because of Dr. King’s hard work, he was given the Nobel Peace Prize, and we now have laws that make discrimination (treating someone unfairly just because they are of a different race, religion, ethnicity, gender, or sexual orientation) is illegal. The government put aside a special day so we can remember what Martin Luther King Jr. did for our country.

photo of the Washington Monument from the Lincoln Memorial

View from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial