01/21/13 Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

[simplyn2deep.livejournal.com]

Today is a holiday for folks in the US, and who doesn’t like having a day off from work and school?! Sure there’s no mail delivery and banks are closed and all Federal buildings are closed, but other than that, everything else is open.

But today’s holiday isn’t like your usual Federal Holiday. Today’s holiday is one for celebrating the life of a man who I, and many others around world (?), feel is a (civil rights and human rights) hero. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Without going into too much detail (and having this be like a couple of my research papers on the Civil Rights Movement from when I was in high school and college), here’s a brief history of the man and the holiday.

The Man

• Martin Luther King Jr. was the son of the Reverend Martin Luther King, Sr. and Alberta Williams King.


• He was born in Atlanta, Georgia


• Date of Birth of Martin Luther King was January 15, 1929


• Date of death: April 4, 1968 (he died at the age of 39)


• Graduated from Booker T. Washington High School and then Morehouse College


• Attended Crozer Theological Seminary and was ordained to the Baptist ministry, February 25, 1948


• In 1951 he entered Boston University and in 1953 he married Coretta Scott and lived in Montgomery, Alabama


• In 1955 he joined the bus boycott after the arrest of Rosa Parks and then in 1957 formed the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to fight against segregation and for civil rights


• In 1960 MLK was arrested during a sit-in at a restaurant and was sentenced to four months in jail. He was released following the intervention of John and Robert Kennedy


• In 1960 MLK was arrested again and wrote his famous Letter from Birmingham Jail


• On his release MLK led 125,000 people on a Freedom Walk in Detroit followed by the March on Washington where he led 250,000 people in the largest civil rights demonstration in history and made the famous and inspiring I Have a Dream speech. JFK was assassinated in the same year.


• In 1964 MLK was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize


• In 1966 MLK begin the March Against Fear and starts the campaign to end discrimination in schools, housing and employment


• April 4, 1968 MLK delivered the "I've Been to the Mountaintop speech" and was shot and killed whilst standing on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee.


• Martin Luther King was awarded with the Nobel Peace Prize (1964), Presidential Medal of Freedom (1977, posthumous) and the Congressional Gold Medal (2004, posthumous)

The Holiday
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is a US federal holiday marking the birthday of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. it is observed on the 3rd Monday of January each year, which is around the time of his birthday, January 15.

Dr. King was the chief spokesman for nonviolent activism in the civil rights movement, which successfully protested racial discrimination in federal and state law. The campaign for a federal holiday in King’s honor began soon after his assassination in Memphis, Tennessee on April 4, 1968. However it took nearly 15 years for the campaign to be accepted and the law to be formally signed by former President Ronald Regan in 1983 and another 3 years before it was first observed on January 20, 1986.

Ronald Reagan and Coretta Scott King at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day signing ceremony

By 2000, all 50 states observed Martin Luther King, Jr. Day – that’s 32 years after his assassination and 14 years after the holiday was signed into law.

Notable Speeches
Martin Luther King Speech - I Have a Dream
Martin Luther King Speech - Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance
Martin Luther King Speech - I See the Promised Land
Martin Luther King Speech - I've Been to the Mountaintop
Martin Luther King Speech - Birth of a New Nation
Martin Luther King Speech - Beyond Vietnam - A Time to Break Silence
Martin Luther King Speech - Where do we go from here
Martin Luther King Speech - Loving your Enemies
Martin Luther King Speech - Our God is marching on
Martin Luther King Speech - Lincoln Memorial Address

What this day means to me:
It's been 10+ years since I've actually thought about what this day means to me. I guess you could say that I've sort of taken Dr. King's (and others) hard work for granted. I use public transportation and unless it's by choice, I don't have to sit at the back of the bus like Rosa Parks and other colored people had to do back then. I don't have to use the Colored Only entrance to buildings, or drinking fountains for Colored People.

I think it's rather fitting that, here in the US, we are celebrating the second Inauguration of President Obama. I can't imagine what Dr. King and Rosa Parks would be thinking if they were alive today. A black man serving as President of the United States. a black man who was elected by people of all different races, nationalities, and religions.

I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today. ~ Martin Luther King Speech - I Have a Dream