Celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., an Icon with a Profoundly Impactful Message
By Julia Romano Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in 2022 will be observed on Monday, January 17th, a special day that marks an annual federal United States holiday, with its government offices and most businesses closed. In 1983, President Ronald Reagan signed Martin Luther King, Jr. Day into law, and three years later, it was first celebrated. By the year 2000, all fifty states officially observed the day. Martin Luther King, Jr., son of Michael King, Sr. and Alberta Christine was born in Atlanta, Georgia on January 15th, 1929. As a highly effective social activist, he was the leader of the civil rights movement of the 1950s and made a huge impact on its progress until his death on April 4th, 1968. Dr. King is especially remembered for his nonviolent protests against segregation and his “I have a Dream” speech. This quintessential speech was important in a number of ways as it brought even greater attention to the civil rights movement, which had been going on for many years. Following this speech, the name Martin Luther King was a household name throughout the nation. The speech was instrumental in Congress moving faster passing the Civil Rights Act. In 1955, King became one of the prominent leaders for the Montgomery Bus Boycott. For 381 days, King and his followers boycotted the bus system that allowed segregation on public buses. Dr. King’s primary goals were to abolish racial discrimination in many areas including public transportation, employment, and with voting rights. Dr. King also opened doors to education and employment that had long been closed to Black America. His speeches are renowned and 70 Shop In RI
some of the most iconic of the 20th century, having a profound effect on the national awareness of racism and the civil rights movement. In regards to his education, as a result of being such a gifted student, King was able to bypass grades nine and twelve, prior to enrolling in 1944 at Morehouse College, the alma mater of his father and maternal grandfather. Although he was the son, grandson, and great-grandson of Baptist ministers, it was not King’s intention to follow the family profession until Morehouse President Benjamin E. Mays, a noted theologian, convinced him to change his mind. King was ordained before graduating college with a degree in sociology. After earning a divinity degree from Pennsylvania’s Crozer Theological Seminary, King attended graduate school at Boston University, where he received his Ph.D. degree in 1955. The title of his dissertation was “A Comparison of the Conceptions of God in the Thinking of Paul Tillich and Henry Nelson Wieman.” Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech was not his first at the Lincoln Memorial. Six years before his iconic oration at the March on Washington, King was among the civil rights leaders who spoke in the shadow of the Great Emancipator during the Prayer Pilgrimage for
