Today January 19th, we celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
In November 1983, with a vote of 78 to 22, Ronald Reagan signed Congressman John Conyers’ bill to declare Martin Luther King, Jr.‘s birthday a national holiday-a date that was not officially observed until the third Monday of January, 1986, and then not by all states.
South Carolina, in fact, became the last state to officially recognize the holiday in 2000, some 32 years later.
Throughout the 1980s, controversy surrounded the idea of a Martin Luther King Day. Dr. King’s widow, Coretta Scott King, along with congressional leaders and citizens had petitioned the President to make January 15th, Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday, a legal holiday.
Many states were already observing the day. However, some people did not want to have any holiday recognizing Dr. King. Others wanted the holiday on the day he was assassinated.
Finally, in 1986, President Ronald Reagan declared the third Monday in January a federal holiday in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
On Monday, January 20th, 1986, people across the country celebrated the first official Martin Luther King Day, the only federal holiday to commemorate an African-American.
((L-R) Coretta Scott King, son Dexter, sister-in-law Christine Farris, Pierce, Abernathy & President Reagan pose for photographs after proclamation of the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday, January 12, 1988. Photo by Diana Walker/Getty Images)
Now, every year, there are quiet memorial services, as well as elaborate ceremonies and public forums to honor Dr. King and his dream, and to discuss issues of social justice.
Schools at all levels offer courses, curricula, and events to teach about racism, equality, and peace.
Religious leaders give special sermons extolling Dr. King’s lifelong work for peace.
Radio and television broadcasts feature songs, speeches, and special programs that tell the history of the Civil Rights Movement and give highlights of Dr. King’s life and times.
Martin Luther King Day honors the life and legacy of one of the visionary leaders of the Civil Rights Movement and recipient of the 1964 Nobel Prize for Peace.
Born on January 15th, 1929, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was the third generation of men in his family to graduate from Morehouse College with honors. He stood out for his academic excellence and went on to earn his doctorate from Boston University.
At a young age Martin Luther King, Jr. showed strong promise, skipping the 9th and 12th grades and entering Morehouse College at the age of 15.
His beliefs in equality and brotherly love developed early as he listened to the sermons of his father and grandfather, both ministers.
He met and married Coretta Scott in Boston, and they raised two daughters and two sons together. King became pastor of a Baptist church in Montgomery, Alabama in 1954.
Upset by the unfair ways that Black Americans were treated, King decided to become actively involved in fighting for their civil rights. He was a member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the NAACP.
(Marchers carrying signs demanding equal rights and jobs. More than 200,000 people participated in the March on Washington demonstrations. The throng marched to the Mall and listened to Civil Rights leaders, clergyman and others addressed the crowd, including Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech. Photo by Steve Schapiro/Corbis via Getty Images)
In 1955, when Rosa Parks was arrested because she would not give up her bus seat to a white passenger, King led a non-violent bus boycott that lasted 382 days.
Despite dangerous attacks on his church, his home, and his family, King never lost faith or determination. Though his home was bombed and he was arrested, he fearlessly led the movement.
The boycott was a success, ending the separation of races on public transport, and making the nation aware of the need for civil rights reform.
Elected as the president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, King used the peaceful methods of another important human rights activist, Mahatma Gandhi, which he combined with his own Christian faith, to promote equal rights for all races of people.
He traveled around the country, giving speeches and writing articles and books. He organized opportunities for Black Americans to register to vote. Dr. King’s most famous speech was in front of over 250,000 people who gathered at the March on Washington.
In his speech, King spoke about his dream. He dreamed that his descendants would one day live in a world where they would be judged by their accomplishments, not by the color of their skin. His inspirational words are still some of the most quoted today.
(US clergyman and civil rights leader Martin Luther King (C) speaks with US Pastor Martin Sargent (L) of the American Church of Paris on October 24, 1965 in Paris, after preaching at the service. During the march of August 28, 1963, Martin Luther King delivered his historic “I Have a Dream” speech in which he called for an end to racism, and which mobilized supporters of desegregation and prompted the Civil Rights Act of 1964. He was assassinated on April 04, 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee and his killing sent shock waves through American society at the time, and is still regarded as a landmark event in recent US history. (Photo by AFP) Photo by -/AFP via Getty Images)
He met with Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. His mission caused him to be arrested by some, and honored by others. When King was a young 35 years old, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
He donated the money earned from the prize back into the fight for civil rights. Had Dr. King been able to live out his full life, there is no doubt he would have continued to be a positive force for change during the Civil Rights Movement.
Unfortunately, his life was cut short by an assassin’s bullet.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. died on April 4th, 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee, where he was preparing to lead another protest march for the rights of workers who were being unfairly treated.
Each January, we celebrate his birthday to honor his dream, and remember all that he did to protect the rights of all of the people of the United States.
Hip-Hop and R&B artists came together for the tribute single “King Holiday,” that was released on January 13th, 1986.
Written by Phillip Jones, Kurtis Blow, Melle Mel and Bill Adler.
Performed by El DeBarge, Whitney Houston, Stacy Lattisaw, Lisa Lisa with Full Force, Teena Marie, Menudo, Stephanie Mills, New Edition, James ‘JT’ Taylor, Kurtis Blow, The Fat Boys, Melle Mel, Run-D.M.C. and Whodini.
“King Holiday” was produced by Phillip Jones and Kurtis Blow. The video was directed by Michele Clark Jenkins.
Our very own, legendary Prince donated the entire $90,000 that was needed to film the video. The video was shot at the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change in Atlanta. It starts with Dexter King answering questions from kids, telling them about Dr. King.
The project was spearheaded by Martin Luther King Jr.‘s son, Dexter Scott King. He reached out to Kurtis Blow, who arranged it all.
“King Holiday” also features a sample of Martin Luther King‘s famous “I Have A Dream” speech.
Money raised from the song went to benefit the MLK Center for Nonviolent Social Change in Atlanta, GA. The single sold over 100,000 copies.
Screen capture from the CBS national broadcast of the ‘I Have a Dream’ speech of American civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. (1929 – 1968), Washington, DC, August 28, 1963. King Jr. delivered his speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to over 200,000 supporters at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Photo by CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images)
“I Have a Dream,” delivered by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on August 23, 1963.
l say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men are created equal.”
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave-owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four little 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.
(Presidential candidate Michael S. Dukakis (2R) and his wife Kitty (R) walking with Coretta Scott King (3L), Rev. Jesse Jackson (2L) and Dexter King (L) during 25th anniversary of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s ‘I Have A Dream’ speech, 1988. Photo by Steve Liss/Getty Images)
I have a dream that one day the state of Alabama… will be transformed into a situation where little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls and walk together as sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.
This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together knowing that we will be free one day.
This will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with new meaning “My country ‘tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim’s pride from every mountainside, let freedom ring.” And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.
(On the National Mall, participants in the March on Washington for Jobs, Peace, & Freedom pass the Washington Monument, Washington DC, August 27, 1983. A large banner, sponsored by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, includes an illustration of Dr Martin Luther King Jr and reads ‘We Have A Dream.’ The event took place on the 20th anniversary of the original March of Washington for Jobs and Freedom, where Dr King delivered his historic ‘I Have a Dream’ speech. Photo by Ann E. Zelle/Getty Images)
Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania! Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado! Let freedom ring from the curvaceous peaks of California! But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia! Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee! Let freedom ring from every hill and mole-hill of Mississippi.
From every mountainside, let freedom ring.
When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of that old Negro spiritual, “Free at last! Free at last! Thank God almighty, we are free at last!”
Portrait of a group of participants in the March on Washington for Jobs, Peace, & Freedom as they sit on blankets on the National Mall, Washington DC, August 27, 1983. One woman wears a pin that reads ‘AFSCME [American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees] Shares the Dream.’ The event took place on the 20th anniversary of the original March of Washington for Jobs and Freedom, where Dr Martin Luther King Jr delivered his historic ‘I Have a Dream’ speech. Photo by Ann E. Zelle/Getty Images)
Only a teen when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was killed, Stevie Wonder, was nevertheless profoundly affected by his death and the reasons that prompted it.
As he announced to the crowd in Atlanta in 1979 at one of the rallies he regularly performed at across the nation in support of making King‘s birthday a national holiday: “If we cannot celebrate a man who died for love, then how can we say we believe in it? It is up to me and you.”
Stevie already had the song; the dream was so real for him. As he told Coretta Scott King in that same year about his “Happy Birthday” song to Martin, “I had a dream about this song. And I imagined in this dream I was doing this song. We were marching-with petition signs to make for Dr. King’s birthday to become a national holiday.”
That song became an anthem and rally call at the shows that not only he performed at but others as well.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Best Speeches!
Somehow this madness must cease. We must stop now. I speak as a child of God and brother to the suffering poor of Vietnam. I speak for those whose land is being laid waste, whose homes are being destroyed, whose culture is being subverted. I speak for the poor in America who are paying the double price of smashed hopes at home and death and corruption in Vietnam. I speak as a citizen of the world, for the world as it stands aghast at the path we have taken. I speak as an American to the leaders of my own nation. The great initiative in this war is ours. The initiative to stop it must be ours.
Martin Luther King, Jr., The Trumpet of Conscience, 1967.
A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.
Martin Luther King, Jr., Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? 1967.
The limitation of riots, moral questions aside, is that they cannot win and their participants know it. Hence, rioting is not revolutionary but reactionary because it invites defeat. It involves an emotional catharsis, but it must be followed by a sense of futility.
Martin Luther King, Jr., The Trumpet of Conscience, 1967.
Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time: the need for man to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to oppression and violence. Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.
Martin Luther King, Jr., Nobel Prize acceptance speech, Stockholm, Sweden, December 11, 1964.
Man was born into barbarism when killing his fellow man was a normal condition of existence. He became endowed with a conscience. And he has now reached the day when violence toward another human being must become as abhorrent as eating another’s flesh.
Martin Luther King, Jr., Why We Can’t Wait, 1963.
The curse of poverty has no justification in our age. It is socially as cruel and blind as the practice of cannibalism at the dawn of civilization, when men ate each other because they had not yet learned to take food from the soil or to consume the abundant animal life around them. The time has come for us to civilize ourselves by the total, direct and immediate abolition of poverty.
Martin Luther King, Jr., Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community?, 1967.
It is necessary to understand that Black Power is a cry of disappointment. The Black Power slogan did not spring full grown from the head of some philosophical Zeus. It was born from the wounds of despair and disappointment. It is a cry of daily hurt and persistent pain.
Martin Luther King, Jr., Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community?, 1967.
Discrimination is a hellhound that gnaws at Negroes in every waking moment of their lives to remind them that the lie of their inferiority is accepted as truth in the society dominating them.
Martin Luther King, Jr., speech, Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Atlanta, Georgia, August 16, 1967.
When we ask Negroes to abide by the law, let us also declare that the white man does not abide by law in the ghettos. Day in and day out he violates welfare laws to deprive the poor of their meager allotments; he flagrantly violates building codes and regulations; his police make a mockery of law; he violates laws on equal employment and education and the provisions of civil services. The slums are the handiwork of a vicious system of the white society; Negroes live in them, but they do not make them, any more than a prisoner makes a prison.
Martin Luther King, Jr., The Trumpet of Conscience, 1967.
It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me, but it can keep him from lynching me, and I think that’s pretty important.
Martin Luther King, Jr., Wall Street Journal, November 13, 1962.
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction….The chain reaction of evil–hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars–must be broken, or we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation.
Martin Luther King, Jr., Strength To Love, 1963.
Success, recognition, and conformity are the bywords of the modern world where everyone seems to crave the anesthetizing security of being identified with the majority.
Martin Luther King, Jr., Strength to Love, 1963.
Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity. Hate destroys a man’s sense of values and his objectivity. It causes him to describe the beautiful as ugly and the ugly as beautiful, and to confuse the true with the false and the false with the true.
Martin Luther King, Jr., Strength To Love, 1963.
Human salvation lies in the hands of the creatively maladjusted.
Martin Luther King, Jr., Strength to Love, 1963.
I am aware that there are many who wince at a distinction between property and persons–who hold both sacrosanct. My views are not so rigid. A life is sacred. Property is intended to serve life, and no matter how much we surround it with rights and respect, it has no personal being. It is part of the earth man walks on; it is not man.
Martin Luther King, Jr., The Trumpet of Conscience, 1967.
The bombs in Vietnam explode at home; they destroy the hopes and possibilities for a decent America.
Martin Luther King, Jr., Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community?, 1967.
We must combine the toughness of the serpent and the softness of the dove, a tough mind and a tender heart.
Martin Luther King, Jr., Strength to Love, 1963.
The church must be reminded that it is not the master or the servant of the state, but rather the conscience of the state. It must be the guide and the critic of the state, and never its tool. If the church does not recapture its prophetic zeal, it will become an irrelevant social club without moral or spiritual authority.
Martin Luther King, Jr., Strength to Love, 1963.
Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice. Justice at its best is love correcting everything that stands against love.
Martin Luther King, Jr., Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community?, 1967.
The Negroes of America had taken the President, the press and the pulpit at their word when they spoke in broad terms of freedom and justice. But the absence of brutality and unregenerate evil is not the presence of justice. To stay murder is not the same thing as to ordain brotherhood.
Martin Luther King, Jr., Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community?, 1967.
Many of the ugly pages of American history have been obscured and forgotten….America owes a debt of justice which it has only begun to pay. If it loses the will to finish or slackens in its determination, history will recall its crimes and the country that would be great will lack the most indispensable element of greatness–justice.
Martin Luther King, Jr., Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community?, 1967.
Man is man because he is free to operate within the framework of his destiny. He is free to deliberate, to make decisions, and to choose between alternatives. He is distinguished from animals by his freedom to do evil or to do good and to walk the high road of beauty or tread the low road of ugly degeneracy.
Martin Luther King, Jr., The Measures of Man, 1959.
A good many observers have remarked that if equality could come at once the Negro would not be ready for it. I submit that the white American is even more unprepared.
Martin Luther King, Jr., Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?, 1967.
Nonviolent action, the Negro saw, was the way to supplement, not replace, the progress of change. It was the way to divest himself of passivity without arraying himself in vindictive force.
Martin Luther King, Jr., Why We Can’t Wait, 1964.
If a man hasn’t discovered something that he will die for, he isn’t fit to live.
Martin Luther King, Jr., speech, Detroit, Michigan, June 23, 1963.
To be a Negro in America is to hope against hope.
Martin Luther King, Jr., Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community?, 1967.
Being a Negro in America means trying to smile when you want to cry. It means trying to hold on to physical life amid psychological death. It means the pain of watching your children grow up with clouds of inferiority in their mental skies. It means having your legs cut off, and then being condemned for being a cripple. It means seeing your mother and father spiritually murdered by the slings and arrows of daily exploitation, and then being hated for being an orphan.
Martin Luther King, Jr., Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community?, 1967.
