On the third Monday of January each year, the United States celebrates Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the famous civil rights activist who led peaceful protests across the South during the 1960s. Many Union residents celebrated this holiday this past week as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. has become an icon of peaceful protest and protector of equality for all Americans. Dr. King was originally a minister but later became the most recognizable figure of the civil rights movement. In order to accomplish his goals of equality for African Americans, Dr. King perfected the concepts of nonviolent resistance and civil disobedience; history remembers him as one of the greatest leaders of the 20th century.
Dr. King originally followed both his father and his grandfather in the pursuit of becoming a Christian minister. He graduated from a segregated public school at the age of fifteen and attended Morehouse College, a prestigious African American college in Atlanta. After graduating in 1948, Dr. King attended Crozer Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania and later Boston University, both prestigious schools (and mostly all white) at the time. He finished up his graduate work in the early 1950s and settled down with his family in Montgomery in 1954. Despite leading a seemingly peaceful life, Dr. King immediately began combating racial injustice. Already an executive member of the NAACP, Dr. King began leading the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott through the tactic of nonviolent resistance, the first demonstration of its kind and Dr. King’s first foray into the public eye. Despite suffering unlawful arrests, death threats and a home bombing, Dr. King’s efforts were successful, and on Dec. 21, 1956, the United States’ Supreme Court ruled the laws segregating buses as unconstitutional.
In 1957, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) elected Dr. King as its first president. With the support of the SCLC, Dr. King traveled all across the country to speak out against injustice and help organize nonviolent protests. During the 1963 protests in Birmingham, Alabama, Dr. King was arrested and wrote his famous “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” which explained his concepts of nonviolent resistance as well as sum up his goals. Because of his deep knowledge of theology and history, Dr. King was able to give philosophical justification to nonviolent resistance and civil disobedience by using passages from the Bible and echoes from Henry David Thoreau’s “Resistance to Civil Government.” This tactic became the way most protests are organized today. Furthermore, in 1963, Dr. King led the March on Washington and delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech, and because of all his efforts fighting for racial justice, Dr. King won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. This award was well-deserved; however, Dr. King’s work goes beyond an award. His actions should inspire everyone to fight for what is right each and every day.
From 1964-1968, Dr. King continued to fight against racial injustice. He also included an opposition to poverty and the Vietnam War in his fight during this time. Despite all of his heroic work, Dr. King’s life was ended too soon. In 1968, a man named James Earl Ray murdered Dr. King in Memphis, Tennessee. In order to honor his heritage, many states began celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. Day as early as 1971. In 1986, President Ronald Reagan signed a bill declaring Martin Luther King Jr. Day a federal holiday, but even then, many states either combined this day with a holiday to honor a confederate leader or refused to observe it altogether. As recent as 1999, not all states observed Martin Luther King Jr. Day; however, every state began to finally observe this holiday in the year 2000.
Martin Luther King Jr. Day may seem like an unimportant holiday to some; however, this holiday recognizes one of the most important men in American history. He fought for equality no matter the cost; he endured unjust arrests, death threats and attacks on his property all so that everyone could have equality under the law. His legacy continues on to this day. Martin Luther King Jr. helped change the world for the better, and in the end, he paid the ultimate price for his beliefs. Dr. King deserves more than just a holiday; he deserves the admiration of all future generations.
