Martin Luther King Day
You may notice that after the two weeks of manic holidays that end the year that you may be in need for a holiday of rest and reflection. As the newest holiday in America, Martin Luther King Day is celebrated on the third Monday of each January. A day that revolves around the theme of 'Remember! Celebrate! Act! A Day On, Not A Day Off!,' Martin Luther King Day is one of the few American national holidays that are dedicated to the memory of a specific figure. Federal offices, post offices, banks, and schools are closed to celebrate this noble holiday.
For those of you who don't know who Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is, well there's something a bit wrong with that. One of the most important figures in the civil rights movements of the 1950s and 1960s, Dr. King was born in Atlanta Georgia on January 15, 1929. The son of a minister, Dr. King came to national prominence as leader of a movement to boycott the Montgomery bus system after they had arrested Rosa Parks for refusing to give her bus seat to a white passenger. The boycott lasted for 381 days and was resolved by the Supreme Court Decision of 1956 that deemed Alabama's segregation laws on busses was illegal.
Charged by this success, Dr. King would help form and be chosen as president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLSC), an organization that would play a particularly prominent role in the American civil rights movement. A giant in the Southern civil rights movement, Dr. King and the SCLSC were vigorous proponents against segregation and racial discrimination. Dr. King's approach to civil rights soon gained massive support throughout America and was a stark contrast to the New York based African-American militancy of Malcolm X and the Nation of Islam. Regardless of their differences, these two groups were remarkably effective in reshaping race relations in America.
While his role in the civil rights movement would be enough to deem Dr. King a hero, it was his tactics that gained universal acceptance. Heavily influenced by Gandhi, Dr. King preached non-violence in his protests. This resulted in television coverage of Dr. King and his followers reacting peacefully to violent policemen during protests. These startling visuals disgusted an entire nation and would effectively challenge the notion of white superiority. Additionally, Dr. King did not preach civil rights at the expense of other races but offered a utopian vision of racial solidarity. His most famous act was organizing a march to Washington on August 28, 1963, in which over 200,000 people gathered around the Lincoln Memorial and heard Dr. Martin Luther King's famed I Have a Dream speech.
In this speech, Dr King states: 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 mean 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 together at the table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day event he state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of 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.
While the move to establish Martin Luther King Day as a national holiday has taken a longer time than expected and was marked by some controversy, the holiday was eventually signed into law by President Ronald Reagan. The first national holiday of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day took place on January 20, 1986. It's a great day to reflect on the state of the country and think of different ways that you could improve it in a constructive fashion like Dr. King. Have a great Martin Luther King Day all!
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