Post submitted by Ella, one of our Student Experience Ambassadors.
Martin Luther King Jr. Day is a federal holiday in the United States of America and takes place on the third Monday of January every year. This day honours the achievements of Martin Luther King Jr., who led significant campaigns to end legal racial segregation in America.
Martin Luther King Jr. primarily advocated the use of nonviolence to combat racial discrimination in American in the 1950s and 1960s. He famously participated in the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955 and led the March on Washington in 1963. It was at the latter event where he made his renowned “I Have a Dream” speech.
He is often credited as the most influential African American civil rights leaders and was fundamental in working towards the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which intended to end discrimination based on race, colour, religion, or national origin, as well as the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which outlawed legal barriers preventing African Americans from voting.
Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, King was tragically assassinated only four years later in 1968. The day therefore commemorates his life, and all that he did in the pursuit of equality and liberty for his community.