Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Was Born on This Date in 1929
Monday, January 15, 2024
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was the greatest civil rights activist of the 20th century in the United States, given the fact he tore down the walls of racial segregation in the South. If he were still alive today, today would have been Dr. King Jr.’s 95th birthday. Remember Dr. King Jr. only lived to be 39 years old, since his life ended early after his assassination in Memphis, Tennessee on April 4, 1968. Today’s holiday is recognized in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, and it is predominantly celebrated within the African-American community. Many people still work today, but places like schools, banks, and the stock market are closed in observance of the holiday.
Right after Dr. King died in 1968, civil rights activists advocated for Dr. King’s birthday to be a holiday celebrated across the country. Republicans were initially against making Dr. King’s birthday a federal holiday, given the fact it would cost the government a burden. However, they saw the contributions that Dr. King Jr. made to the Civil Rights Movement. The civil rights movement was a movement like the downfall of apartheid in South Africa or Soviet communism in Eastern Europe. Since before the founding of our country, African-Americans were subject to harsh treatment from slavery to segregation. There is a common misconception among historians that the Founding Fathers wanted to keep slavery. That belief is untrue. The Founding Fathers never wanted to keep slavery. They wanted everyone to gain freedom, but their primary focus when they were establishing the country was to gain independence from Great Britain. After that was accomplished, they could focus on other issues, such as slavery. The issue with slavery would not be settled until close to 100 years later, after the United States fought the Civil War.
The moment in Dr. King Jr.’s life that many are touched by is when he gave his “I Have a Dream” speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on August 28, 1963. Dr. King Jr. expressed what he believed, just like we all should believe. We should not be judged by our appearance, but by our own capabilities. In other words, Dr. King Jr. said that people should be judged “not by the color of skin, but by the content of their character.” Everyone can do anything, regardless of who they are. In the concluding words of Dr. King Jr.’s speech, he exclaimed, “Free at last, free at last, thank God almighty, I am free at last!” In those words, Dr. King Jr. knew he had a God-given free-will. His God-given free-will propelled the end of racial segregation in America.