Why Today Is A National Holiday

On a sweltering August day in 1963, an estimated 300,000 people gathered at the National Mall in Washington D.C. seeking change. A change in attitude. A change in standards. A change in life. When the sun came up that morning, many men spoke on their behalf. By sundown, the world only knew the name of one: "Brother Martin".

He was a popular preacher and activist in the South. He had already seen his share of protest and persecution. He was so popular amongst those in attendance, in fact, that he was asked to speak last. Organizers feared that most of the crowd would leave if he had spoken earlier in the day. The program that day had run long. He was asked to give a few, final encouraging words to cap the day off, and to keep it short. He had prepared a speech; no more than five minutes of speaking.

On that breezy Summer afternoon, fate had other plans for him. A few moments into his speech, the wind blew his prepared remarks from the podium. Martin paused for a moment. What followed was the turning point of the civil rights era:



It took a signature the next year from President Johnson to bring about civil rights legislation. It took much more than a signature to change the minds and hearts of many Americans in the years to follow. Brother Martin died from an assassin's bullet less than five years after his "I have a dream" speech.

If not for Dr. King and his speech, the term African-American would not exist. A little boy named Barack Obama would not have had the opportunity to go to Harvard Law School and become President of the United States. Americans would not be donating by the hundreds of millions to a tiny nation of former African slaves.

Thank you Dr. King.