Martin Luther King Jr. Day

By Richard P. Howe Jr.

Monday, January 20, 2014 is Martin Luther King Jr. Day.  It is a holiday in Massachusetts so schools and government buildings will be closed.  The holiday is in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who was a leader of the Civil Rights movement in America during the 1950s and 1960s.  King delivered his famous “I have a dream” speech in Washington in 1963 and won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 for combating racial inequality through nonviolent means.  He was assassinated on April 4, 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee.

Martin Luther King Jr. day was made a Federal holiday in 1986 and in 2011 the United States government opened the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial (shown above) in Washington D.C.  The memorial is along the National Mall and is placed midway between the Lincoln Memorial and the Jefferson Memorial.

In Lowell, a celebration of the Life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is organized each year by Lura Smith and Middlesex Community College.  This year’s event will begin at noon on January 20, 2014 in the lobby of the UMass Lowell Tsongas Center (formerly the Tsongas Arena) and features music, dance and speeches that honor the life and goals of Dr. King.

This article appears in the January 10th edition of KhmerPostUSA