IN HONOR OF
DR. KING
In 1929, civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. was born in Atlanta, Georgia. The black civil rights leader, minister and Nobel Peace Prize recipient (1964) was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968.
King, Martin Luther, Jr. (1929-1968), an African-American Baptist minister, was the main leader of the civil rights movement in the United States during the 1950's and 1960's. He had a magnificent speaking ability, which enabled him to effectively express the demands of African Americans for social justice. King's eloquent pleas won the support of millions of people--blacks and whites--and made him internationally famous. He won the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize for leading nonviolent civil rights demonstrations.
Martin Luther King, Jr., Day is a United States national holiday honoring the birthday of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. The holiday is observed each year on the third Monday in January. King's actual birthday was Jan. 15, 1929. On Martin Luther King, Jr., Day, most government offices and schools close for the day, but many private businesses remain open.
A campaign to establish a holiday honoring King began soon after he was assassinated in 1968. In 1983, Congress made his birthday a federal holiday, first celebrated on Jan. 20, 1986. Today, the holiday is observed by the federal government and by nearly every state.
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