Amy Wydner, Senior
Almost sixty years ago, Martin Luther King Jr. gave his famous “I have a dream” speech that united and inspired over 200,000 civil rights protestors at the March on Washington.
Martin Luther King Jr. was a prominent Civil Rights leader and the third Monday in January is reserved to commemorate his achievements in the 1950s and 60s. He was well known for his preaching and speeches on the importance of peaceful protest to obtain equality and freedom. To this day he is remembered and celebrated for his bravery, outspokenness, and sacrifices that invoked change in America. This year is no different with annual marches and parades commencing in honor of the figure on Monday the 17th.
King made waves in the 50s, where he was a Baptist minister who had advocated an end to racial segregation using nonviolent means. He gained national prominence during a bus boycott, sparked by the arrest of Rosa Parks, occurring in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1955. Becoming the leader of the boycott, he was able to successfully bring the issue to the Supreme Court in November 1956, when they ruled that segregation on public buses was unconstitutional. In 1957, King founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), which was created to coordinate and assist local organizations that were working for the full equality of African Americans. It had a large part in the March on Washington where King stated, “I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low,” “The rough places will be plain and the crooked places will be made straight.” Those lines became King’s most famous words and are often quoted because of its powerful and inspiring message.
In 1964 Martin Luther King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. On April 4, 1968, King was fatally shot by an assassin. Following his death, there were almost immediate calls for devoting a national holiday to honor his legacy and in 1970, various states and cities made his birthday, January 15, a holiday. In 1968 there had been opposition to making a holiday to honor King but it was finally passed in 1983 when it was decided the third Monday in January would be reserved. In 1986, the day was first observed nationwide.
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