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IELTS Reading Passage – Martin Luther King
Martin Luther King
In Atlanta, Georgia, on January 15, 1929, Martin Luther King was born. He was the son of Alberta Williams King and the Reverend Martin Luther King, Sr. Alfred Daniel Williams King was his younger brother, while Willie Christine King was his older sister. King studied at Booker T. Washington High School while he was still a child in Atlanta. He attended Morehouse College at the age of fifteen without having officially completed high school after skipping the ninth and twelfth grades. Martin was aware that white people and black people in some regions of America had differing rights from the day he was born.
A black family had to sit in a different area of the restaurant if they wanted to eat there. They had to use separate restrooms and sit in the back of the theatre. A black guy would have to undergo the humiliation of giving up his personal seat to a white man in several southern states if all the seats on the bus were taken, which is arguably even worse. King was unable to comprehend the heinous injustice of this. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology in 1948. Afterwards, King started his systematic theology PhD studies at Boston University, where he graduated on June 5, 1955, with a doctorate of Philosophy. On June 18, 1953, King wed Coretta Scott; they had four kids together.
King initially gained national attention when he assisted in organising the black boycott of Montgomery bus system in 1955. He later moved back to the South and took a position as preacher of a Baptist church in Montgomery, Alabama. In the segregated south, where black people could only sit at the back of the bus, this was organised when Rosa Parks, a black woman, refused to hand over her seat to a white man. The bus company changed its policies as a result of the 382-day boycott, as well as the Supreme Court ruled that such discrimination was unconstitutional.
King was involved in the Southern Leadership Christian Conference (SCLC), which was established in 1957 to organise rallies against segregation. He promoted nonviolent direct action based on Gandhi’s strategies, who organised demonstrations opposing British rule in India that resulted in the country’s independence in 1947. At Birmingham, Alabama, in which the white populace was fiercely opposing desegregation, King spearheaded widespread demonstrations against discriminatory practices. When attacks on civil rights protestors mounted, the city came to be known as “Bombingham,” and King was detained and imprisoned for his involvement in the demonstrations.
Upon his release, King took part in the massive civil rights march in Washington in August 1963, when he gave his well-known “I have a dream” speech, which foresaw the day when the American dream of equality and liberty for all people would come true. After receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, he oversaw a voter registration drive for blacks in 1965. The Voting Rights Act, which outlawed the discriminatory practices that had kept blacks from voting in the south, was passed by the US Congress the same year.
King discovered that the younger generation did not generally agree with his philosophy of nonviolent protest because as civil rights movement grew more radical. King started to demonstrate it against Vietnam War and the US’s high poverty rate. King travelled to Memphis, Tennessee, on March 29, 1968, in support of the black sanitary public works workers who had been on strike since March 12 in demand of better pay and treatment. When black street repairmen were sent home due to inclement weather in one instance, they only received payment for the first two hours, whereas white personnel received payment for the entire day. King could not endure to be silent about such blatant acts of prejudice. He made an effort to bring together his people and all the American people who had experienced discrimination in order to calmly but resolutely demonstrate for their rights.
King had reserved room 306 at Walter Bailey’s Lorraine Motel for his journey to Memphis. King was shot on the second-floor balcony of the motel at 6:01 p.m. on April 4, 1968. King was taken by ambulance to St. Joseph’s Hospital, where medical professionals opened his chest and massaged his heart manually. At 7:05 p.m., he was pronounced dead. In spite of being only 39 years old, King’s autopsy indicated that he possessed the heart of a 60-year-old man.
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Martin Luther King Reading Questions
Questions 1-6
Reading Passage has 6 sections A—F.
Choose the most suitable heading for each section from the list of headings below.
Write the appropriate numbers (i-viii) in boxes 1-6 on your answer sheet.
Note: There are more headings than sections so you will not use all of them.
You may use any of the headings more than once.
- Paragraph A
- Paragraph B
- Paragraph C
- Paragraph D
- Paragraph E
- Paragraph F
i the memorable speech
ii unhappy about violence
iii A tragic incident
iv Protests and action
v the background of an iconic man
vi Making his mark internationally
vii Difficult childhood
viii Black Street repairmen
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Questions 7-11
Choose the correct option from A-D
7. What thoughts did Martin Luther King, Jr. have towards the civil rights movement?
- It was beneficial to the Vietnam War.
- The younger generation came together as a result.
- Politicians who sought to win more votes had taken advantage of it.
- Sometimes the protesters’ behaviour was too violent.
8. In 1965, what did Martin Luther King struggle for?
- the right for black people to vote
- the activities of the U.S. Congress
- the right of winning the Nobel peace price
- the right of blacks to travel internationally
9. What factors impacted Martin Luther King in his nonviolent activism?
- India’s independence in 1947
- Christianity
- Gandhi’s techniques
- the Southern Leadership Christian Conference
10. What made Martin Luther King renowned in the beginning?
- the boycott of the Montgomery bus system by blacks
- obtaining a position as a pastor in a Baptist church
- When Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus
- When he convinced Rosa Parks out of giving up her seat on the bus to a white man
11. Martin Luther King, from a young age
- wanted to show support for black people’s rights.
- could not comprehend the unequal treatment with black people.
- was prohibited from visiting restaurants or cinemas.
- was aware that several northern states were subjecting black people to humiliation.
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Questions 12-14
Do the following statements agree with the information given in the reading passage? In boxes 12-14 on your answer sheet, write
TRUE if the statement is true
FALSE if the statement is false
NOT GIVEN if the information is not given in the passage.
12. The black bus boycott in Montgomery was successful.
13. Alabama’s white population demanded desegregation in 1963.
14. In his protest against the Vietnam War, Martin Luther King accomplished a lot.
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Martin Luther King Reading answers
1. V
2. VII
3. IV
4. II
5. I
6. VI.
7. D
8. A
9. C
10. A
11. B
12. TRUE
13. FALSE
14. NOT GIVEN
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