Looking Back
									Kids have long fought for justice in the United States. Look back to May 1963. Hundreds of Black children skipped school to march in Birmingham, Alabama. They were protesting segregation. Segregation is the practice of keeping Black and white people apart.

Freeman Hrabowski speaks about Black history in 2010.
MANDEL NGAN—AFP/GETTY IMAGESFreeman Hrabowski is a president at the University of Maryland. He was 12 in 1963. He remembers Martin Luther King Jr. visiting his church. King asked kids to fight for civil rights. Hrabowski was inspired to march. “King believed in us,” he told TIME for Kids. “We have to believe in our kids. They have to be empowered
                                
                                    
                                    
                                
                                
								
									empower
                                    
                                    STEVE DEBENPORT/GETTY IMAGES
                                    
										to give someone the ability to do something
										(verb)
                                    
                                    The speaker empowered the students to raise their voices. 
                                
                             to play a part in our democracy.”
						
				
				
				
				


