Martin Luther
King Day
The Reverend Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr. was a
black clergyman who is
ranked among the greatest
of black Americans because
of his crusade to win full
civil rights for his people.
Preaching nonviolence,
much in the same way as
had Mahatma Gandhi of India,
Martin Luther King, Jr.
spoke and campaigned tirelessly
to rid the United States
of traditions and laws
that forced on black Americans
the status of second-class
citizens. Among these laws
were those in some states
which required black people
to take back seats in buses
or which obstructed voting
by blacks.
In the late 1950s and
early 1960s, African
Americans,
led by Dr. Martin Luther
King, Jr., used boycotts,
marches, and other forms
of nonviolent protest
to demand equal treatment
under the law and an
end
to racial prejudice.
A high point of this
civil
rights movement came
on August 28, 1963,
when more
than 200,000 people of
all races gathered in
front of the Lincoln
Memorial
in Washington, D.C.,
to hear King say: "I
have a dream that one day
on the red hills of Georgia
the sons of former slaves
and the sons of former
slaveholders will be able
to sit down together at
the table of brotherhood....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."
Not long afterwards
the U.S. Congress
passed laws prohibiting
discrimination
in voting, education, employment, housing, and public accommodations. The
world
was shocked when Dr. King was assassinated in 1968. Ever since, special
memorial services have
marked his birthday
on January 15. By vote
of Congress, the
third Monday of every
January, beginning
in 1986, is now a
federal holiday in
Dr.
King's honor.
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