Encounter with Martin Luther King, Jr.

1. Encounter with Martin Luther King, Jr.

2. The person behind the fame… • Think about a celebrity whom you would like to meet. • What interest you about that person? • If you did meet a celebrity, would you want that person to fit his or her public image exactly? • Or would you rather discover a more private side? Why?

3. Civil Rights Hero • Today, Martin Luther King, Jr. is honored as a hero who died for the cause of civil rights. • When Maya Angelou met King, he was just becoming famous – and he was a controversial figure in American life. • Some people thought he was stirring up trouble between the races and that he should be more patient about waiting for discrimination to end.

4. Civil Rights Hero • Angelou met King while she was working for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), which King was in charge of. • The SCLC promoted nonviolent protests as a way of gaining civil rights for African Americans. • Its members campaigned for desegregation, staged demonstrations supporting civil rights legislation, and coordinated voter registration drives.

5. Character Study • A character study is a piece of nonfiction whose purpose is to provide insight into the personality of a contemporary figure. • A writer of a character study usually provides details about the subject’s speech, actions, and facial expressions. • In addition, the writer may record the reactions of other people to the subject.

6. First Person Account • This character study is a first-person account. • As you read Angelou’s first-person account of her encounter with King, notice the details that give insight into King’s character.

7. Summary • A summary is a short restatement of the main ideas and important points of what you’ve read. • In preparation for summarizing the main ideas of a character study, you should keep track of the most important things you learn about the subject – in this case, Martin Luther King, Jr.