Today is not technically Martin
Luther King, Jr.'s birthday - his birthday is on January 15th - but in
1986, the third Monday of every January (which is today) was established
as Martin Luther King Day, a national holiday in the United
States. By the year 2000, all 50 states were observing the
holiday. There are currently only four U.S. federal holidays that
commemorate an individual person, and King's is one of them.
The
other three are Christmas Day celebrating Jesus Christ; George
Washington's birthday (also called President's Day), and Columbus Day
for Christopher Columbus.
That is how extremely important MLK was
to the history of this great country.
"Let freedom ring.
And when this happens, and when we allow freedom ring - when we let it
ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every
city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children -
black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and
Catholics - will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the
old Negro spiritual: 'Free at last! Free at last!
Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!'" -Martin Luther
King, Jr.
Visit MLKDay.gov to find out how to make MLK Day a
"Day ON, Not a Day Off!"
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