Monday, January 21, 2008

Martin Luther King Day



The Manic Monday word for today is Date. Today's date is significant because it is Martin Luther King Day Bill. The official holiday, on the third Monday of January, began in 1986. It was the first new American holiday since 1948, when Memorial Day was created as a "prayer for peace" day. Also it was only the second national holiday in the twentieth century (the other was Veterans Day, created as Armistice Day in 1926 to honor those who died in World War I). King is the only American besides George Washington to have a national holiday designated for his birthday (those of Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, Robert E. Lee and others are celebrated in some states but not nationwide).

Internationally, King is one of the few social leaders of any country to be honored with a holiday (Mahatma Gandhi's birthday is observed in India).

In honor of this date ... Martin Luther King Day ... we have the text of his speech I have a Dream here.



3 comments:

Unknown said...

Asante sana for sharing this post with your blog readers. Do we have any leaders of any race or gender in our country that have the stature of Ghandi or King?

peace, Villager

Nubia said...

Villager,

If we have, I've certainly not heard of them!

We can only P.U.S.H. Pray Until Something Happens.

Nubia

Speedcat Hollydale said...

Great post. I have not watched King's speech in some time... thanks for putting it up here!

Eric from "Speedcat Hollydale"