School children around the United States learn about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. from an early age because of the contributions he made to the civil rights movement. 

Martin Luther King Jr. day or MLK day is a federal holiday celebrated on the third Monday of January every year in the United States. This year the holiday falls on Dr. King’s actual birthday, which was January 15.

“Martin Luther King is one of those people that exudes peace. He changed the whole nation,” said social studies teacher Madonna Arnold. “He brought something to unify the nation.”

During the time that King shared his teachings of peace and peaceful protests, the nation was in great conflict.

“He broke open that door, bringing black people and white people together to show that we can be a unified nation because before that we weren’t,” said Arnold.

Martin Luther King Jr. believed in a better nation. He believed in equality, and  he believed in change through peaceful protests.

“We are this fantastic country, but we always need to become better,” said Arnold, “So here are the people we look up to.”

The federal holiday was  signed into law in 1983 by President Ronald Reagan and it took three years to enact the first observation of the holiday. In 2000, it was officially observed by all 50 states for the first time. 

“It’s a day to commemorate what Martin Luther King did in the fight for civil rights,” said social studies teacher Keith Lipinski. 

Although slavery ended with the Emancipation Proclamation at the end of the civil war, African American people were still not afforded the same rights to “Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” that the United States was built upon. Dr. King wanted all people to have access to this “American Dream,” but not through the use of violence.

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that,” MLK famously said. “I have decided to stick to love…Hate is too great a burden to bear.”

Lipinski explained that Martin Luther King advocated the use of non violence to achieve equal rights for all and especially for black Americans who had been denied these rights ever since the end of the civil war.

Racism is still woven into the nation’s fabric, even after everything that Dr. King fought and died for. 

“By ensuring we provide these rights to everyone,” said Lipinski, “we finally deliver on the promises that the declaration of independence and the constitution, which when they were formulated guaranteed rights for all.” 

King sought justice and equality and was killed by forces who hoped to silence his voice. 

“In your struggle for justice, let your oppressor know that you are not attempting to defeat or humiliate him, or even to pay him back for injustices that he has heaped upon you,” said King. “Let him know that you are merely seeking justice for him as well as yourself.”