This Monday, the nation will commemorate the legacy of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Ever since 1986, the third Monday in January has been observed as a federal holiday in his honor. Numerous events will occur nationwide on Jan. 15, the 95th anniversary of his birth.
King was born in Atlanta, and followed his grandfather’s and father’s footsteps by attending Ebenezer Baptist Church locally, where he eventually served as pastor from 1960 until his April 4, 1968 assassination in Memphis. Growing up in the segregated South during the Jim Crow era, he encountered much racism and also learned how to develop great oratory skills which he later utilized to spread his divine messages.
“We may have all come on different ships, but we’re in the same boat now,” Dr. King once said. “We must build dikes of courage to hold back the flood of fear.”
Many of his messages delivered over half-a-century ago are still relevant today.
“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience,” he once said.“But where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”
The young reverend rose to international prominence during the mid 1950s urging African Americans to stand up for their civil rights and not allow themselves to be mistreated by their Caucasian American oppressors in the land of the free.
With racist cops often beating Blacks with their flailing batons and unmercifully siccing vicious dogs on protesters during demonstrations, Dr. King would advise the victims of such heartless brutality to “Never succumb to the temptation of bitterness.”
He also said: “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle.”
He was always on the frontlines where the danger was. Such as during the Montgomery Bus Boycott, in Alabama beginning in December 1955 where he, along with several other activists, led the demonstration demanding African Americans be treated fairly on public buses. They were being forced to surrender their seats to Caucasian passengers and ride in the back of the buses. “There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor political, nor popular, but he must take it because conscience tells him it is right,” he urged, adding, “The time is always right to do what is right.”
Reverend King traveled across the country advocating nonviolence, as hundreds of thousands flocked to see him speak. His demonstrations significantly heightened awareness about the Blackman’s plight in North America. The mass attention garnered prompted politicians to take action, and the 1964 Civil Rights Act was one of the results.
“We are not makers of history, we are made by history,” Dr. King said. “You know, a lot of people don’t love themselves, and they go through life with deep and haunting emotional conflicts. So the length of life means that you must love yourself. And you know what loving yourself also means? It means that you’ve got to accept yourself.”
