Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington, DC

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Honoring the dream. Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Today we honor the life and legacy of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Prominent in the 1950s and 1960s, King was a Baptist minister who promoted nonviolent protest to effectuate social change. In 1963, he helped organize the March on Washington, DC, which 250,000 people attended to protest discrimination and support pending civil rights legislation. During this event, King delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech, imagining America free of racism and segregation. His speech is regarded as one of America's greatest, and his leadership was instrumental in ending racial segregation of African Americans throughout many parts of the United States. He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, but his life was cut short by an assassin in 1968.

Seen in today's image near the Washington Monument, his 30-foot statue is the centerpiece of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington, DC. Emerging from between the Stone of Hope and Mountain of Despair, the figure of Dr. King resolutely looks to the horizon, and his memorial is a place for visitors to ponder a future where all are free at last.