University Libraries at The University of Akron is celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. Day and his life and his legacy by highlighting select print books, streaming videos, eBooks, and streaming audio, and other materials from our collections. In the spirit of acknowledging and celebrating inclusive stories, we invite you to learn about and celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day and his life and his legacy. by exploring the resources we've highlighted on this guide. If you're on campus during January and February please stop by and visit our display at Bierce Library.
The Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday celebrates the life and legacy of a man who brought hope and healing to America. We commemorate as well the timeless values he taught us through his example — the values of courage, truth, justice, compassion, dignity, humility and service that so radiantly defined Dr. King’s character and empowered his leadership. On this holiday, we commemorate the universal, unconditional love, forgiveness and nonviolence that empowered his revolutionary spirit.
On August 27, 1984, President Reagan established a commission (98 Stat. 1473 ) to assist in the first observance of the Federal legal holiday honoring Martin Luther King Jr., and on January 18, 1986, President Reagan signed Proclamation 5431 (100 Stat. 4396), marking the first observance of his birthday a national holiday.
On August 23, 1994, President Clinton signed the Martin Luther King Jr. Federal Holiday and Service Act (108 Stat. 1565), expanding the mission of the holiday as a day of community service, interracial cooperation and youth anti-violence initiatives. In 1999, Title 4, United States Code, (113 Stat. 1285), was amended to add the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday to the list of days on which the flag should be displayed.
* From Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2024 via GovInfo.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was born in Atlanta, GA on January 15th, 1929. He was one of the most important and influential Civil Rights leaders in the 1950s and 1960s. The cornerstones of his activism were based on non-violence and civil disobedience, both of which were inspired by his Christian faith and the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi.
He rose to prominence as a leader in 1955 during the Montgomery bus boycott when he was selected to take charge to desegregate the bus services. Afterwards he was elected the president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). From this position, he helped organize many Civil Rights movement actions. The most famous being the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. It was then, on the stairs of the Lincoln Memorial, that Dr. King delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. He also won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, and in 1965 helped organize the Selma to Montgomery marches to advocate for Black voting rights.
His influence and importance came with a heavy price. The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Counter Intelligence Program (COINTELPRO) began surveillance of Dr. King as FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover believed him to be a threat to the nation. Part of the investigation was trying to tie Dr. King to communism. The FBI even went so far as to write him a threatening letter, anonymous at the time. Dr. King believed the letter had implied for him to commit suicide.
In the later 1960s, Martin Luther King Jr. turned his attention to poverty, capitalism, and the war in Vietnam. Dr. King wanted to occupy Washington, D.C. for his Poor People’s Campaign but he unfortunately never got the chance. On April 4th, 1968, at the age of 38, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee.
He was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal. In 1986 President Ronald Reagan signed legislation enacting Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, which created a national holiday on the third Monday in January to remember Dr. King on his birthday. His legacy for nonviolent action and civil disobedience still lives on.
From the National Archives: Martin Luther King, Jr. (January 15, 1929 - April 4, 1968)