Martin Luther King Jr.'s Birthday/Just Like Martin

Today is the birthday of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  Dr. King was born Martin Lewis King, Jr. in Atlanta, Georgia.  When he grew up, he changed his middle named to Luther in honor of the Protestant leader Martin Luther.  After graduating Morehouse College, King entered the ministry and Boston University where he received a PhD.  He received many awards for his nonviolent, direct-action approach in seeking equal civil rights for all Americans.  Time magazine celebrated him as the Man of the Year in 1963 for his leadership in the protests against segregation in Birmingham, Alabama.  On August 28, 1963, Dr. King addressed more than 200,000 Americans who gathered at a march in Washington, D.C. to protest racial inequality in the United States.  It was there that he made his famous "I Have a Dream" speech.  The following year he became the second black American to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.  On April 4, 1968, Dr. King was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee while fighting for the rights of that city's sanitation workers.  The United States observed a national mounring period of six days in memory of this great civil rights leader.  In 1983, Congress designated the third Monday in January as a federal holiday to honor his life and ideals.

For those interested in reading more about this period in history, check out Just Like Martin by Ossie Davis.  The year is 1963, and 14-year-old Isaac "Stone" Stone's father, Ike, won't let him travel with the rest of his church youth group from Alabama to the civil rights march in Washington.  His mother has just died, and his father worries that something will happen to the boy. Besides, ever since Ike came back from the Korean War filled with bitterness, he has kept a gun in the garage. He opposes his son's devotion to nonviolence and belittles his admiration of Martin Luther King.  When the church youth meeting room is bombed, killing two friends and maiming a third,  Stone organizes a children's march. Ultimately, these efforts and the assassination of President Kennedy force Ike to confront his feelings and support his son. 

This book is not available at Riverdale Public Library but can be requested through interlibrary loan by clicking here.