Many of you just like my wife and I have a holiday today, Monday, January 21 and do not have to go to class or work. Of course for some of you unlucky ones, this holiday doesn’t matter to the business you work at, but what is this Martin Luther King holiday anyways? This event has been discussed in schools and certain churches for many years and will continue for as long as human beings are still alive. What most of us remember about this day is that Martin Luther King Jr. was shot and that is why we have this holiday. To tell you the truth, this isn’t the actual summary of this Martin Luther King Jr.. Therefore, I’m going to take this post to have some type of remembrance of this great African-American man and how he made an impact for all human beings no matter what the race is.
The story behind Martin Luther King Jr.
Back in December, 1955, Martin Luther King Jr. has just received his doctorate degree in “Theology“. He moved to Montgomery, Alabama to preach at a Baptist Church, but he saw there that African-Americans had to ride in the back of public buses. He then organized and led a boycott of the public buses in Montgomery. Any person, black or white, who was against segregation refused to use public transportation. Those people who boycotted were threatened or attacked by other people, or even arrested or jailed by the police. After one year of boycotting the bus system, the Supreme Court declared that the Alabama state segregation law was unconstitutional.
African-Americans were not only segregated on buses throughout the south. Equal housing was denied to them, and seating in many hotels and restaurants was refused.
In 1957, Dr. King founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and moved back to Atlanta, Georgia. He continued to organize non-violent protests against the treatment of African-Americans and his philosophy on this matter remained the same. Nonetheless, he and his group were often threatened and attacked.
On August 23, 1963, a crowd of more than 250,000 people gathered at Washington, D.C. and marched to the Capitol Building to support the passing of laws that guaranteed every American, no matter what the race, equal civil rights. On the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, Dr. King delivered his speech, “I Have A Dream”.
“I Have A Dream”
- I 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.
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 plains, 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 with which I return to the South. 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.
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!”
Outcome of Martin Luther King’s work
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed because of the great speech. The act guaranteed equal rights in housing, public facilities, voting, and public schools. Everyone would have impartial hearings and jury trials. A civil rights commission would ensure that these laws were enforced.
In 1968, Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated while he was leading a workers’ strike in Memphis, Tennessee. White people and black people who had worked so hard for peace and civil rights were shocked and angry. The world grieved the loss of this man of peace.
Martin Luther King’s death did not slow the Civil Rights Movement. Black and white people continued to fight for freedom and equality. Coretta Scott King is the widow of the civil rights leader. In 1970, she established the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Center in Atlanta, Georgia. This “living memorial” consists of his boyhood home and the Ebenezer Baptist Church, where King is buried.
On Monday, January 20, 1986, in cities and towns across the country people celebrated the first official Martin Luther King Day, the only federal holiday commemorating an African-American. A ceremony which took place at an old railroad depot in Atlanta Georgia was especially emotional. Hundreds had gathered to sing and to march. Many were the same people who, in 1965, had marched for fifty miles between two cities in the state of Alabama to protest segregation and descrimination of black Americans.
January 15 had been observed as a legal holiday for many years in 27 states and Washington, D.C. Finally, in 1986, President Ronald Reagan declared the third Monday in January a federal legal holiday commemorating Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday.
I don’t know how much of you actually care about this holiday or what Martin Luther King Jr. has done in the past, but I’m Chinese and I still understand that if it wasn’t for his speech, we would still have a lot more segregation problems. Help me out and spread this post around or write your own remembrance post. Every little bit helps in getting the word out and reminding people would this event. Thanks! 
Sources: U.S. Department of State , Wikipedia
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I hope that a lot of people read this post. Dr. King was a man of African descent living in America, but as you said, his work affects people worldwide. As an African-American I certainly has benefited from and appreciate his legacy.
Honoring Dr. King by continuing to spread his message of peace and equality is one of the best things that we can do to celebrate his life.
Thank you for this post.
Well done,
couldnt have said it better!!
freedom!!!