Martin Luther King Jr Day 2009

Day Before Presidential Inauguration of Barack Obama

Dec 26, 2008 Karen Lotter

This year Martin Luther King Jr Day will be celebrated on 19 January - the day before the historic presidential inauguration of Barack Obama.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day is a United States holiday marking the date of birth (15 January 1929) of the Reverend Dr Martin Luther King, Jr. and is observed on the third Monday in January each year.

Barack Obama - Presidential Inauguration

King Day, which will be celebrated on 19 January this year, will take on an added significance as it will precede the day when Barack Obama, the first black American president is inaugurated on 20 January at noon on the steps of the west front of the U.S. Capitol building in Washington.

I Have a Dream Speech

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination on 4 April 1968 at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee did not slow the Civil Rights Movement. They had read his “Letter from Birmingham Jail” and heard Dr King’s “I had a Dream” speech in 1963 on the steps on the Lincoln Memorial.

Black and white people continued to fight for freedom and equality. Coretta Scott King, an activist in her own rights, was 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 MLK is buried.

Coretta Scott King on King Day

Mrs Coretta Scott King said on the website of the King Center: “On this Martin Luther King Jr holiday, we commemorate the universal, unconditional love, forgiveness and nonviolence that empowered his revolutionary spirit. The King Holiday commemorates America’s pre-eminent advocate of nonviolence --- the man who taught by his example that nonviolent action is the most powerful, revolutionary force for social change available to oppressed people in their struggles for liberation.”

How Dr Martin Luther King Day Happened

President Ronald Reagan signed a bill into law in the Rose Garden, 15 years after Dr. King's death, making the third Monday of January a national holiday to celebrate the birth and life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. But it was a rough journey.

Martin Luther King Day was first observed in 1986. Not all states observed the holiday and others gave it a different name. King Day was only officially observed in all 50 states for the first time in 2006.

Opposition to Honoring Dr King

America had only honored two individuals with national holidays - George Washington and Christopher Columbus and many felt there were more worthy people. A senator from Georgia even denounced Dr. King as a communist

Others feared the King Holiday was meant as a way to make up to African-Americans for slavery. Senator Bob Dole pointed out to those critics '"I suggest they hurry back to their pocket calculators and estimate the cost of 300 years of slavery, followed by a century or more of economic, political and social exclusion and discrimination"

Senator Jesse Helms (Rep-North Carolina) led the opposition to the bill and questioned whether MKL was important enough to receive such an honor.

Alternative Names for Martin Luther King Day

While all states now observe the holiday, some did not name the day after MLK.

• In Utah, the holiday was known as "Human Rights Day" until the year 2000.
• In Virginia, it was known as Lee-Jackson-King Day until 2000.
• In Arizona and New Hampshire, Martin Luther King Day is known as "Martin Luther King, Jr. Civil Rights Day

The King Center and Stevie Wonder Organize

While congress couldn’t decide, many African-Americans celebrated Dr King’s birthday themselves anyway. The King Center turned to support from the general public. Stevie Wonder wrote and released the single "Happy Birthday" to popularize the campaign in 1980. Six million signatures were collected for a petition to Congress to pass the law, termed by a 2006 article in The Nation as "the largest petition in favor of an issue in U.S. history.

20 January 2009 - Presidential Inauguration of Barack Obama

This year Martin Luther King Day will set the scene for the historic presidential inauguration on 20 January 2009.

Maybe the realization of Dr King's dream is beginning.

Also Read:

Celebrate Martin Luther King Day

Martin Luther King Day Project Ideas

Sources:

King Center

Welcome to Martin Luther King Jr Day on the Net

The copyright of the article Martin Luther King Jr Day 2009 in American Affairs is owned by Karen Lotter. Permission to republish Martin Luther King Jr Day 2009 in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Ronald Reagan Signs the Bill for the MLK Holiday.	Ebenezer Baptist Chruch in Atlanta, Georgia.	Grave of Dr Martin Luther King Jr in Atlanta, Ga.
Dr Martin Luther King Jr.

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Jan 8, 2009 5:24 AM

Guest :

i would like to say i'am so glad we all as blacks and whites still respect the king for his words and wisdom he lead, for the Freedom we need. I was in Atlanta Ga. and was actully standing by his grave and was amazed that the man who lead to my freedom and gave his freedom before i was even born i was even stsanding right there. I'am so happy that my birthday is so the day after his celebration of his freedom.

Jan 13, 2009 10:14 AM

Guest :

As you can see i'm mexican, and im glad that we have black people because withought them, will be like an empty world with no meaning, Martin lUTHER KING CHANGED OUR WORLD FROM GOOD TO BAD, and guess what, WE ALL HAVE A DREAM, AND THATS TO LIVE AND BE STRONG.

Jan 14, 2009 7:16 AM

Guest :

I sit here at my computer with teary eyes because a GREAT MAN of GOD is not with us in body, but I know he is looking over the banister's of Heaver at this great day, he said one day this will be, one day this will be, when we will come together as a nation. DR KING THANK YOU for your commitment to God and your calling, we all have a calling and Gods will, will be done here on earth as it is in heaven. THANK YOU PRESIDENT OBAMA for answering your calling, and I pray that GOD will BLESS AND PROTECT YOU always with His powerful hand.

Jan 14, 2009 1:51 PM

Guest :

I AM GOING 2 ACHIEVE MY DREAM ALL BECAUSE OF MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.AND BARACK OBAMA

Jan 15, 2009 11:22 AM

Guest :

he is a great men just like barack obama he smart and funny but he died when he was anounce something i dont know when that happend

Jan 19, 2009 7:24 AM

Guest :

I am so moved at this historic moment in time be an American bearing witness to how great this country has been and can continue to be.
Last night I watched an wonderful documentary on Martin Luther King produced by NBC's Tom Brokaw. Dr King never relented in his pursuit of equality and opportunity for all - leading the struggle for peace and against poverty and discrimination.
I would like to share the story of my nephew, Aaron, a 16 year old African American who will be participating in an incomparable opportunity to relive the history of the Civil Rights Movement, and in so doing make history of his own, when he travels with his school through the Deep South retracing major Civil Rights sites in Atlanta, Selma, Birmingham, Hattiesburg, Jackson, Little Rock and Memphis. He and his classmates will meet veterans of the Civil Rights Movement - true American heroes like 86 year old Reverend Fred Shuttesworth, (who almost single handily desegregated Birmingham, Alabama), Reverend Billy Kyles, (who was on the balcony with Dr. King when he was shot in Memphis, Tennessee and spend the last hour of Dr. King's life with him) and one of the Little Rock 9, Minnijean Brown Tricky, will travel with Aaron and his group for part of the 10 day trip, sharing her story of what education and perseverance mean to her.
What this will mean for him as a young African American? In Aaron’s words…“The main reason I want to go on this trip is to better understand the hardships that the Civil Rights Movement leaders had to go through in order to make our country the way it is. I know that because of what these brave leaders did, my peers and I live a better life today. By going on this trip, I will honor the leaders of the Civil Rights Movement. As a young African American, I see a lot of racism whether it is towards African Americans, Latino Americans, or Asian Americans. This journey will help me better understand how I can help stop this racism.”
Best wishes for us all!
Laura
"In the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope." Barack Obama
To learn more or get involved, please go to www.change.gov

Jan 19, 2009 6:11 PM

Guest :

I wish Rosa Parks were here to see this too.

Feb 25, 2009 7:53 AM

Guest :

martin luther king was my king at peace and he rocked love u martin

Mar 17, 2009 11:31 AM

Guest :

i would like to say that i am glad that we can talk to white people and go to the school with them now i want to thant MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.

9 Comments