Whatna nice coincidence! The day that we celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King,nJr., who strove to bring about his dream of a future in which peoplenare not judged by the color of their skin, but by the content ofntheir character, is also the day that we inaugurate BaracknObama to his second term as U.S. President. Isn’t that fitting?
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nAnlot of the overt discrimination against black people that King callednattention to and led non-violent actions against has disappeared.nSome still lingers, unfortunately, and of course a lot of covertn(hidden) discrimination still flourishes in a lot of places. Peoplenoften have but try to hide prejudices, whisper or just think insultsninstead of shouting them, act out their bigotry that they insist—evennto themselves—that they do not even feel.
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nButnthings are getting better. Martin Luther King, Jr., helped things getnbetter in the 1960s, and Obama is helping things get better now, andnlots and lots of other people are helping in all sorts of ways, too.nHopefully, so are you!
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nInaugurationnPrimer
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Then National Park Service is offering a Junior Ranger Activityn Book and Inauguration Badge (for a limited time).n
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nnSocial Studies for Kidsn has a very short article about presidential inaugurations—includingn interesting facts about the longest and shortest inaugural speeches.n
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nCongress for Kidsn has an even shorter article about presidential inaugurations—butn with a different assortment of facts. Check it out.
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Lookn back at the historic 2009 inauguration with the Chicago Tribune’s photo gallery.n Almost two million people attended that inauguration! Today’sn festivities are bound to be a lot smaller.n
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Fornmore about Martin Luther King, Jr., see previous posts here and here.
Fornmore about Martin Luther King, Jr., see previous posts here and here.n
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nAlsonon this date:
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nErrol Barrow Day in Barbados
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nAnniversarynof the introduction of the smallpox vaccine
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nAnniversarynof one of the first female doctors, Sophia Jex-Blake
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