Monday, January 20, is a holiday in the United States as it is Martin Luther King Day, and it will also be a historic day, as it will mark the official return of President-elect Donald Trump, who will begin his second term in office, having led the country from 2017 to 2021.
Every year, Martin Luther King Day is celebrated in honor of the civil rights activist, and as is customary every four years, the commemoration of MLK coincides with the change of administration.
Martin Luther King Jr. is a civil rights legend whose legacy has transcended through the years, after maintaining a peaceful battle for equal civil rights for African-Americans. He managed to gain great media interest thanks to his oratory skills.
The MLK commemoration on the third Monday in January
Martin Luther King was assassinated on April 4, 1968, while on the balcony of his room at the Lorraine Motel, when he was only 39 years old. Since his death, attempts were made to establish a holiday to commemorate his legacy, but it faced resistance until 1983, when Congress approved its celebration on the third Monday in January, and President Ronald Reagan signed it into law.
Martin Luther King’s birthday was on January 15, so being on the third Monday in January it was close to that date, because it is a federal holiday that is taken as a day of work, not rest.
Who killed Martin Luther King Jr.?
To support a strike by African-American garbage collectors, he traveled to Memphis, Tennessee in late March 1968, where on April 4 he was shot and killed while on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel.
A criminal who escaped from prison in 1967 named James Earl Ray was charged with the murder and sentenced to 99 years in prison on March 10, 1969, but within three days of entering prison, Ray began to plead his innocence and claimed that he had been framed. Although he eventually received the support of Reverend Jesse Jackson and the King family, he died without a trial.