The Church usually honors a Saint on the Anniversary of their death. However Martin Luther King Jr's family after his death fought to have his contribution honored by his country and he is remembered and honored in the USA annually by a Federal Holiday on the 3rd Monday of January (close to his Birthday). So we are choosing to honor him on Martin Luther King Jr Day.

Martin Luther King Jnr was one of the most influential leaders of the Civil Rights Movement in the USA. His father, grandfather and great-grandfather were black preachers. He was recognized as a promising student from a young age, and graduated with a PhD in theology from Boston University before he was 25. He then became pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama.

Racial tension was high. Black resentment over segregation boiled over, and in 1955 African-Americans began a boycott of the buses, a protest that King eventually led. There were attacks on his home, but in 1956 the Supreme Court ordered that buses in Montgomery be integrated. King was now a symbol of the fight by southern blacks against racial injustice. In 1957 he became president of the newly formed Southern Christian Leadership Conference. This organization of black clergy provided a network for the expansion of the Civil Rights Movement.

In 1958 he was stabbed and barely survived.

In 1960 King moved to Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia to further his civil rights work. Committed to non-violent protest, he led people in sit-ins, boycotts and peaceful marches. In August 1963 King led a march on Washington of 200,000 people. In his speech at the Lincoln Memorial he demonstrated the oratorical brilliance that made him the acknowledged spokesperson on Civil Rights: (View speech at Sext)

In 1964, the US Congress passed the Civil Rights Act, prohibiting racial discrimination in public places and calling for equal opportunities in employment and education. Martin Luther King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

In 1966 moved by the plight of so many in poverty stricken conditions, he led a successful protest in Chicago over discriminatory practices in rental housing and organized a Poor People’s Campaign, hoping to unite the poor of all races in the struggle for economic opportunity. He also became critical of America’s involvement in the Vietnam War.

No stranger to threats to his life, he continued his work. He said, “I’m not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.” In March 1968 he went to Memphis to help organize a strike by mainly black garbage collectors. He was assassinated there on 4 April. He fought injustice because of his strong Christian faith, he is a martyr of the civil rights movement. He is remembered with a public holiday every 3rd Monday in January in the USA, which is the closest Monday to his Birthday.

BORN: 15 January 1929, Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.A.

DIED:4 April 1968, Memphis, Tennessee, U.S.A.