Dáminí Black

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at a civil rights meeting with Lyndon B. Johnson.  Cabinet Room in the White House, January 18, 1964.

Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday became a federal holiday on November 2, 1983.  The initial legislative proposal for the holiday was drafted by Congressman John Conyers, Jr.  in 1968, following King’s assassination.  It would take 15 years, and ongoing efforts by King’s wife, Coretta Scott King, for the bill to pass.  

President Reagan signed the bill into law outside of the White House with Coretta Scott King by his side.  In his remarks he said:

In 1968 Martin Luther King was gunned down by a brutal assassin, his life cut short at the age of 39. But those 39 short years had changed America forever. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 had guaranteed all Americans equal use of public accommodations, equal access to programs financed by Federal funds, and the right to compete for employment on the sole basis of individual merit. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 had made certain that from then on black Americans would get to vote. But most important, there was not just a change of law; there was a change of heart. The conscience of America had been touched. Across the land, people had begun to treat each other not as blacks and whites, but as fellow Americans.”

Read the full remarks

“Perhaps the South, the nation and the world are in dire need of creative extremists.”

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Letter from a Birmingham Jail

The Jackson siblings photographed by Neal Preston, 1977.

(Top photo L-R) Standing: Rebbie, Marlon, Jackie, Tito. Sitting: Janet, Michael, Randy, LaToya.