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Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day!
King's Early Life
Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day!
Martin Luther King, Jr. was born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia, to Michael and Alberta King. Ironically, the same year as the Holocaust victim and diarist Anne Frank. After his father, a senior pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church, participated in the Baptist World Alliance meeting in Berlin, Germany, he decided to change his name to Martin Luther, the father of Reformation. During his trip, he visited where Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the Wittenberg castle church's door to challenge the Catholic Church.
That one act led to dissension between the Catholics and Protestants in the New England colonies. Many of our founding fathers were protestant, and some religiously discriminated against people that practiced Catholicism. For example, the Know Nothing, or the American Party, prominent during the 1850s, was intolerant towards Germans, Irish, and Catholics. That trip profoundly affected the senior King, prompting him to change his and his son's name to Martin Luther.
Martin Luther King, Jr. was smart for his age and skipped the 9th and 12th grades. Before graduating from Morehouse College in 1948, an HBCU, he became an ordained minister. King received his divinity degree from Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester, Pennsylvania, and his doctoral degree in theology from Boston University. While in Boston, he met Coretta Scott, a music student from Marion, Alabama, in 1953. In that union, they produced Yolanda, Martin III, Dexter and Bernice. The subsequent year, he relocated to Montgomery, Alabama, to become a pastor at the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church.
Civil Rights Movement
The 1950s was a turbulent time for Black people, especially in the south. In 1955, a 14-year-old named Emmitt Till was murdered in Money, Mississippi, by John William Milan and Roy Bryant for allegedly flirting with a white woman. Before going on his trip, his mother, Mamie Till, forewarned him that life was different in the south than the north because of racial segregation. At Emmitt’s funeral, Mamie wanted the world to see what those men did to her son. So, pictures of Emmitt's mutilated body became the impetus of the Civil Rights Movement.
Later that year, on December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks was arrested in Montgomery, Alabama, for refusing to give her seat to a white man on the bus. Seeing those injustices happening to blacks, he decided to become an agent of change. Jesus Christ and Indian social activist Mahatma Gandhi influenced his philosophy of nonviolence. Gandhi stood up against the unfair treatment Indians received in South Africa from British colonial rule.
Dr. King included his philosophy of nonviolence in his book, Stride Toward Freedom:
Principle One: Nonviolence is a way of life for courageous people.
Principle Two: Nonviolence seeks to win friendship and understanding.
Principle Three: Nonviolence seeks to defeat injustice, or evil, not people.
Principle Four: Nonviolence holds that unearned, voluntary suffering for a just cause can educate and transform people and societies.
Principle Five: Nonviolence chooses love instead of hate.
Principle Five: Nonviolence believes that the universe is on the side of justice.
In 1957 in Atlanta, Georgia, King, along with Bayard Rustin, Ralph Abernathy, and Fred Shuttlesworth, started Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) to help coordinate the civil rights protests in the south. On March 7, also known as 'Bloody Sunday", approximately 600 non-violent protestors left Brown Chapel A.M.E. Church in Selma intending to protest in a march 54 miles to Montgomery for voter's rights. As they crossed Edmund Pettus Bridge, law enforcement officers and local vigilantes attacked them with nightsticks and teargas, hospitalizing at least 50 protestors. The televised historical attack allowed Americans to witness first-hand what they were hearing and reading about the horror of segregation.
Before President John F. Kennedy's death, he proposed strict laws to protect the civil rights of all American citizens. When Lyndon B. Johnson became president after Kennedy's assassination, Johnson persuaded Congress to uphold Kennedy's promise. On August 28, 1963, 250,000 people marched from the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Monument to draw attention to the challenges and inequalities African-Americans were facing in America. That same day, King recited his "I Have a Dream" speech.
The march on Washington was not the first time King cited his “I have a Dream” speech. Two times before: April at 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, and Cabo Hall in Detroit, Michigan. That speech was not part of the plans for that day. King started his speech with the promissory note analogy written by Speechwriter Clarence B. Jones and Advisor Stanley Levison. During his speech, the renowned gospel singer exclaimed, "Tell 'em about the dream, Martin, tell 'em, about the dream!"
One of the most famous lines of his speech "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by their character ."However, some are simultaneously quoting his words and suppressing the dream. On The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Dr. Bernice King, his daughter, commented about people misusing his quotes, "In '68, my father was one of the most hated men in America, and now he's one of the most loved men in the world. So much so that people do take liberties and kind of take different quotes to fit their situation, and nothing is more frustrating for me than that. I say to people, 'If you're going to use his words, try to find the context of those words that he used them in."
At 35, King became the youngest to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in Oslo, Norway. On April 4, 1968, King was assassinated at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, by James Earl Ray.
Key Legislation Passed
Civil Rights Act of 1964: It bans discrimination based on a person's color, race, national origin, religion, or sex.
Voting Rights Act of 1965: A law passed to help enforce the 15th amendment (This amendment gave black men the right to vote in 1870) by ensuring that no American citizen shall not be denied the right to vote based on race or skin color.
Civil Rights Act of 1968: Prohibited racial discrimination in the sale or rental of housing.
Martin Luther King Holiday
Four days after King's death, Congressman John Conyers (D-MI) introduced a bill proposing Martin Luther King Day, which garnered little support. It was not until many years later that more blacks became elected to Congress. The Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), founded in 1971, was instrumental in advocating for the King holiday. CBC uses its constitutional power and the federal government's financial resources to help those historically disenfranchised realize the American Dream. SCLC gathered 3 million signatures in support of the King holiday.
In 1973, Illinois became the first state to celebrate the King holiday, then Massachusetts and Connecticut. In 1979, Coretta Scott King, his widow, testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee about the importance of having a King holiday. She organized a national campaign along with the King Center to garner more than 300,000 signatures on a petition. With the support of Jimmy Carter, the bill was brought to the House floor and denied by five votes. In 1980, singer Stevie Wonder wrote Happy Birthday to elevate the cause.
Excerpts from the song:
You know it doesn't make much sense
There ought to be a law against
Anyone who takes offense
At a day in your celebration
'Cause we all know in our minds
That there ought to be a time
That we can set aside
To show just how much we love you
And I'm sure you would agree
What could fit more perfectly
Than, to have a world party on the day you came to be
I just never understood
How a man who died for good
Could not have a day that would
Be set aside for his recognition
Because it should never be
Just because some cannot see
The dream as clear as he
that they should make it become an illusion
And we all know everything
That he stood for time will bring
For in peace, our hearts will sing
Thanks to Martin Luther King
We have now engrained Wonder's Happy Birthday rendition in our birthday celebrations.
In January 1983, more than 100,000 people rallied and expressed their support for the King holiday movement. Later that year, on November 3, President Ronald Reagan designated the third Monday in January as an annual federal holiday. The first official celebration started on January 20, 1986. After the holiday bill became law, the King Center gained congressional support to establish a King Federal Holiday Commission.
In 1993, the National Community Service Act was signed into law to enhance national and community service. The following year, Congressman John Lewis, and Senator Harris Wofford, who had worked with King during the Civil Rights Movement, proposed The King Holiday and Service Act (H.R.1933). Wofford stated that the "The King holiday should be a day on, not a day off; a day of action, not apathy; a day of responding to community needs, not a day of rest. Martin would want the holiday honoring his birthday to be a day of reflection, not recreation, service not shopping, a day not only of words but of deeds".
Now, MLK Day's theme is to "Remember-Celebrate-Act. A Day On, Not a Day Off". It is "a day when people of all races, religions, classes, and stations in life put aside their differences and join in a spirit of togetherness."
Next week is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day; how will you honor his legacy? In this life, you do not only exist for yourself but for others too. As President John F. Kennedy said," ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.” In Wofford's speech about the need for The King Holiday and Service Act, he stated that while sitting in the car with Coretta Scott-King, she expressed to him that she had a recurring feeling that someone would kill him. Sitting next to his wife, Martin Luther King, Jr. stated, "I didn't ask for this. I was asked, and I said yes. The Lord asked me, and my soul said yes."
In life, we find out that we exist for a reason. Some of you already know your purpose, while others are still on a journey to find out. Whatever the case, there is so much power in servicing others. In doing this work, you are strengthening bonds and expanding your network. Volunteerism can be a transformational experience that can lead to future job opportunities. Ultimately, people who volunteer tend to have happier, healthier, and longer lives.
How do you plan to transform Martin Luther King's teachings into community action by addressing the triple evils of poverty, racism, and militarism? Here are some possible ideas to commemorate his birth:
Participate in a walk-a-thon (www.MLK365.org)
Search for opportunities on Idealist, JustServe, or VolunteerMatch
Mentor a young person
Donate to a charity
Volunteer at food banks and pantries
Deliver meals and groceries to vulnerable seniors
Donate medical supplies and equipment
Volunteer from home (allforgood.org)
Search for volunteer opportunities on MLKDay.gov
Hold a coat drive (www.onewarmcoat.org)
Write a letter to deployed service members
Use Catchafire to access flexible virtual volunteer opportunities
Volunteer to transcribe historical documents through the Smithsonian Digital Volunteer Program
Write Letters Against Isolation for seniors
Volunteer to answer questions for students (Career Village.org)
Donate used sneakers to Nike Reuse-a-Shoe Program
Donate stuffed animals to homeless shelters
Make hygiene kits for the homeless
Make care packages for the deployed military
Work in a community garden
Donate clothes to women's organizations
Adopt a park to clean up
Volunteer at an animal shelter
Send old glasses to OneSight and Lions Clubs International
Gather toys to donate to a church, synagogue, or mosque
Host a bake-off for the community
Donate old sheets, towels, and blankets to a local animal shelter
Collect used magazines, paperbacks, and novels for prisons and jails
Volunteer at a senior citizenship center
Teach financial literacy skills
Make scarves, handmade bags, and care packages to cheer deployed troops
In order for change to happen, we must start having discussions across differences. For five years, Cleveland Foundation hosted its Common Ground conversations throughout the city and surrounding suburbs. The purpose of that annual event was to bring people from different races, areas, educational levels, and socioeconomics together over a meal to discuss how they could collectively build community and share power.
Although our drum major, Martin Luther King, Jr., has already preceded us, we still have marching orders to fulfill. To be a true contender for the parade, one must be an effective communicator and team player to conduct a strong performance. The desire to become number one comes with unimaginable sacrifices and unwanted attention. It causes us to live beyond our means to maintain our position, eventually leading to self-destruction. Isms interfere with seeing our true identity and force us to protect the systems of oppression because of the falsehoods of exclusivity. King did not change the trajectory of blacks by himself; he had a tribe of individuals behind him. Like the drum major has field lieutenants and captains to help manage the majorettes, brass, woodwinds, and percussion sections.
(Watch MLK’s Drum Major Instinct Speech)
To realize King's dream, we must leave our titles at the door and focus on asset-building and selflessness. Your actions or inactions will reveal what you want this country to be.
