Martin Luther King Day: ‘I Have A Dream’ Speech Defines Civil Rights Movement

King was the chief spokesman for nonviolent activism in the Civil Rights Movement

MLK DAY: “I Have a Dream” was delivered by Martin Luther King, Jr. on August 28, 1963, in which he called for an end to racism in the United States. Delivered to over 250,000 civil rights supporters from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial during the March on Washington, the speech was a defining moment of the American Civil Rights Movement.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day is a federal holiday marking the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. It is observed on the third Monday of January each year, which is around King’s birthday on January 15.

The holiday is similar to holidays set under the Uniform Monday Holiday Act.

King was the chief spokesman for nonviolent activism in the Civil Rights Movement, successfully protesting 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 three years later.

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.

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