MLK DAY: Martin Luther King Jr. Day: a U.S. federal holiday marking the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr.
AGN.News Team
January 13, 2023
WASHINGTON (AGN.News) – MLK DAY or Martin Luther King Jr. Day is a U.S. federal holiday marking the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr.
The holiday is observed on the third Monday of January each year. Born in 1929, King’s actual birthday is January 15 (which in 1929 fell on a Tuesday). The holiday is similar to holidays set under the Uniform Monday Holiday Act. The earliest Monday for this holiday is January 15 and the latest is January 21.
Who is Martin Luther King Jr.?
Martin Luther King Jr. (January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist, one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968.
He was an African American church leader and a son of early civil rights activist and minister Martin Luther King Sr. King advanced civil rights for people of color in the United States through nonviolence and civil disobedience.
King participated in and led marches for the right to vote, desegregation, labor rights, and other civil rights. He oversaw the 1955 Montgomery bus boycott and later became the first president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC).
As president of the SCLC, he led the unsuccessful Albany Movement in Albany, Georgia, and helped organize some of the nonviolent 1963 protests in Birmingham, Alabama.
King was one of the leaders of the 1963 March on Washington, where he delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. The civil rights movement achieved pivotal legislative gains in the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the Fair Housing Act of 1968.
King’s speech: “I Have a Dream”
“I Have a Dream” is a public speech that was delivered by American civil rights activist and Baptist minister Martin Luther King Jr. during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28, 1963.
In the speech, King called for civil and economic rights and an end to racism in the United States. Delivered to over 250,000 civil rights supporters from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., the speech was a defining moment of the civil rights movement and among the most iconic speeches in American history.
Work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
On October 14, 1964, King won the Nobel Peace Prize for combating racial inequality through nonviolent resistance. In 1965, he helped organize two of the three Selma to Montgomery marches.
In his final years, he expanded his focus to include opposition towards poverty, capitalism, and the Vietnam War. In 1968, King was planning a national occupation of Washington, D.C., to be called the Poor People’s Campaign, when he was assassinated on April 4 in Memphis, Tennessee.
Honors for Martin Luther King Jr.
Beginning in 1971, cities such as St. Louis, Missouri, and states established annual holidays to honor King. At the White House Rose Garden on November 2, 1983, President Ronald Reagan signed a bill creating a federal holiday to honor King.
Observed for the first time on January 20, 1986, it is called Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Following President George H. W. Bush’s 1992 proclamation, the holiday is observed on the third Monday of January each year, near the time of King’s birthday.
On January 17, 2000, for the first time, Martin Luther King Jr. Day was officially observed in all fifty U.S. states.
MLK’s messages to the masses
“Before I was a civil rights leader, I was a preacher of the Gospel. This was my first calling and it still remains my greatest commitment. You know, actually all that I do in civil rights I do because I consider it a part of my ministry. I have no other ambitions in life but to achieve excellence in the Christian ministry. I don’t plan to run for any political office. I don’t plan to do anything but remain a preacher. And what I’m doing in this struggle, along with many others, grows out of my feeling that the preacher must be concerned about the whole man.”
Martin Luther King Jr.: “nonviolent”
Dr. King was inspired by his Christian beliefs and the nonviolent activism of Mahatma Gandhi. He led targeted, nonviolent resistance against Jim Crow laws and other forms of discrimination.
“World peace through nonviolent means is neither absurd nor unattainable. All other methods have failed. Thus we must begin anew. Nonviolence is a good starting point. Those of us who believe in this method can be voices of reason, sanity, and understanding amid the voices of violence, hatred, and emotion. We can very well set a mood of peace out of which a system of peace can be built.” — Martin Luther King Jr.
Dr. King’s many Awards and Honors
Martin Luther King Jr. attended philosophy classes at Harvard University as an audit student in 1952 and 1953.
At the age of 25 in 1954, King was called as pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. King received his Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D.) degree on June 5, 1955.
Dr. King was awarded at least fifty honorary degrees from colleges and universities. On October 14, 1964, King became the youngest winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, which was awarded to him for leading nonviolent resistance to racial prejudice in the U.S.
In 1965, Dr. King was awarded the American Liberties Medallion by the American Jewish Committee for his “exceptional advancement of the principles of human liberty.” In his acceptance remarks, King said, “Freedom is one thing. You have it all or you are not free.”
Dr. King was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977 and the Congressional Gold Medal in 2003.
King County, Washington honors Dr. King
On February 24, 1986, the King County, Washington (state) Council approved a motion to rename the county to honor civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. (no relation to William R. King), preserving the name “King County” while changing its namesake.
The motion stated, among other reasons for the change, that “William Rufus DeVane King (1786-1853) was a slaveowner” who “earned income and maintained his lifestyle by oppressing and exploiting other human beings,” while Martin Luther King’s “contributions are well-documented and celebrated by millions throughout this nation and the world, and embody the attributes for which the citizens of King County can be proud, and claim as their own.”
Because only the state can charter counties, the change was not made official until April 19, 2005, when Governor Christine Gregoire signed into law Senate Bill 5332, which provided that “King county is renamed in honor of the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr.” effective July 24, 2005.
The County Council voted on February 27, 2006, to adopt the proposal sponsored by Councilmember Larry Gossett to change the county’s logo from an imperial crown to an image of Martin Luther King Jr. On March 12, 2007, the new logo was unveiled.
The Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial
This Memorial is a national memorial located in West Potomac Park next to the National Mall in Washington, D.C. It covers four acres (1.6 ha) and includes the Stone of Hope, a granite statue of Civil Rights Movement leader Martin Luther King Jr. carved by sculptor Lei Yixin.
The inspiration for the memorial design is a line from King’s “I Have a Dream” speech: “Out of the mountain of despair, a stone of hope.” The memorial opened to the public on August 22, 2011, after more than two decades of planning, fund-raising, and construction.
King Center for Nonviolent Social Change
It’s commonly known as The King Center, a nongovernmental, not-for-profit organization in Atlanta, Georgia. The center was founded in 1968 by Coretta Scott King, who started the organization in the basement of the couple’s home in the year following the 1968 assassination of her husband, Martin Luther King Jr.
In 1981, the center’s headquarters were moved into the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site facility on Auburn Avenue which includes King’s birth home and the Ebenezer Baptist Church, where he preached from 1960 until his death.
In 1977, a memorial tomb was dedicated, and the remains of Martin Luther King Jr. were moved from South View Cemetery to the plaza that is nestled between the center and the church. Martin Luther King Jr.’s gravesite and a reflecting pool are also located next to Freedom Hall.
Mrs. Coretta Scott King was interred with her husband on February 7, 2006. Their daughter and King’s youngest child, Bernice King, became the CEO in 2012.
The Embrace located in Boston Common
On Friday January 13, 2023, Bostonians and visitors to the City of Boston gathered at the Boston Common, the first city park in America, for the unveiling of The Embrace, a new memorial honoring the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. and his wife Coretta Scott King.
The Embrace is a bronze sculpture standing 22 feet (6.7 m) high and with a total weight of 40,000 pounds (18,000 kg). The Embrace by Hank Willis Thomas was installed in Boston Common and can be viewed in the 50 acre public park in downtown Boston.
The artwork commemorates Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King. It depicts the hug between King and his wife after he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964.
Boston Common, near the Financial District and Beacon Hill, is the oldest public park in the United States. Now the park honors the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King.
The Embrace joins other memorial sculptures at Boston Common. For example, the Declaration of Independence Tablet, a 1925 sculpture by John Francis Paramino, the Boston Massacre Monument, dedicated on November 14, 1888, and the Boston Common Tablet, a 1913 sculpture by R. Clipston Sturgis, are all installed at Boston Common in Boston.
MLK Day celebrated on Monday
On Monday, January 16, 2023, the country will celebrate as Martin Luther King Jr. Day. All federal offices and banks will be closed. Local and national businesses will be closed in recognition and honor to Dr. Martin Luther King and his work on behalf of humanity.
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