TO: Mayor and Commissioners
FROM: Katerri Johnson, City Clerk's Office
THROUGH: Mark R. Lauzier, City Manager
DATE: January 16, 2018
Title
MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. DAY PROCLAMATION
Body
Background:
On January 15, 1929, Martin Luther King, Jr. was born in Atlanta, Georgia. Throughout his life he became an integral part of the peaceful civil rights movement in the 1950s.
He dedicated his life to all Americans being able to enjoy the freedom guaranteed every citizen under the United States Constitution.
In 1963, King spearheaded a coalition of civil rights groups in a campaign to end segregation in Birmingham, Alabama, considered at the time, the most segregated city in the nation. Later that year, King helped organize and lead the March for Jobs and Freedom, known popularly as the March on Washington. The march drew more than 250,000 people to the National Mall, where King delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech.
At 35 years old, in 1964, King became the youngest person to ever win the Nobel Peace Prize. His acceptance speech is widely regarded as the most powerful address ever delivered at the awards ceremony.
In 1965, Congress passed the Voting Rights Act, which ensured that African-Americans were allowed to vote in all cities and states.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was assassinated on April 4, 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee.
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