Martin Luther King Jr. Day offers a chance to celebrate an important figure. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day falls on January 17 this year, just two days after Reverand Dr. King’s birthday. The holiday was first observed in 1986, a few years after Ronald Regan signed it into law. It wasn’t officially celebrated in all 50 states until the year 2000.
Martin Luther King Jr. Day offers a chance to celebrate an important figure.
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day falls on January 17 this year, just two days after Reverand Dr. King’s birthday. The holiday was first observed in 1986, a few years after Ronald Regan signed it into law. It wasn’t officially celebrated in all 50 states until the year 2000.
Many people compare Martin Luther King to President Barack Obama. Both are Nobel Peace Prize winners and history making African-Americans. Obama accepted the nomination to become president on the 45th anniversary of King’s speech at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, Obama’s inauguration took place on Tuesday, January 20th 2009, the day after Martin Luther King Jr. Day. and our President keeps a bronze bust of King in his office. Obama recently made history himself by repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.
King was the main spokesman for nonviolent activism in the civil rights movement, which was used to protest racial discrimination in federal and state law. He was assassinated in 1968.
Many aren’t aware that behind the incredible Martin Luther King was an openly gay advisor Bayard Rustin. Rustin was a civil rights campaigner and chief organizer of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.
It was Rustin who counseled Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on techniques of nonviolent resistance after he traveled to India to learn the Ghandian technique. Although he was always open about his sexuality, it didn’t come to the attention of the public until 1953 when he was arrested for “homosexual activity” in Pasadena, California and plead guilty to “sex perversion” and served 60 days in jail. He spoke out on gay rights later in his life. You can find out more about Bayard Rustin in the film “Brother Outsider” which was released in 2008 on LOGO.
