Day of service

(Monday, Jan. 16, 2012) Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a U.S. federal holiday marking the birthday of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., civil rights activist. It is observed on the third Monday of January each year, which is around the time of King's birthday, Jan. 15.








Government offices are closed today as are some schools and financial institutions. The day has evolved into a day of service.

King was the chief spokesman for nonviolent activism in the civil rights movement, which successfully protested racial discrimination in federal and state law. The campaign for a federal holiday in King's honor began soon after his assassination in 1968. President Ronald Reagan signed the holiday into law in 1983, and it was first observed on Jan. 20, 1986. At first, some states resisted observing the holiday as such, giving it alternative names or combining it with other holidays. It was officially observed in all 50 states for the first time in 2000.

The Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial in Washington, D.C., was dedicated in October and we visited there the week after the ceremony. Covering four acres, the memorial opened to the public on Aug. 22, after more than two decades of planning, fund-raising and construction. A ceremony dedicating the Memorial was scheduled for Aug. 28, the 48th anniversary of the "I Have a Dream" speech that King delivered from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in 1963, but was postponed until Oct. 16 (the 16th anniversary of the 1995 Million Man March on the National Mall) due to Hurricane Irene.

Located on four acres at the northwest corner of the Tidal Basin in the National Mall, it features giant stone statues of King and granite walls engraved with 14 of King's inspiring quotes. Since its opening last summer, more than 2 million visitors from around the globe have been able to witness firsthand the message of hope, justice, democracy and love that resonates from the crescent-shaped walls of the memorial situated adjacent to the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial and in a direct line between the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials.