Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
January 18, 2010
The Lord be with you
In the Church Year today is set aside as “The Confession of St. Peter.” On the secular calendar used in the United States today is used to remember Martin Luther King Jr. This post deals with Martin Luther King Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. (January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist clergyman, activist and prominent leader in the American civil rights movement. His main legacy was to secure progress on civil rights in the United States, and he has become a human rights icon. King is recognized as a martyr by two Christian churches (the ELCA and the Episcopal Church USA). King became a civil rights activist early in his career. He led the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott and helped found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1957, serving as its first president. King's efforts led to the 1963 March on Washington, where King delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech, raising public awareness of the civil rights movement.
In 1964, King became the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for his work to end racial segregation and racial discrimination through civil disobedience and other non-violent means. By the time of his murder in 1968, he had refocused his efforts on ending poverty and opposing the Vietnam War, both from a religious perspective. King was assassinated on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee. He was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977 and Congressional Gold Medal in 2004; Martin Luther King, Jr. Day was established as a U.S. national holiday in 1986.
Blessings in Christ,
Pastor John Rickert
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