A day to remember Martin Luther King, Jr.

Submitted by Suanne Z. Thamm

Reporter - News Analyst

January 18, 2016 1:00 a.m.

Today we celebrate the life and works of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., a Baptist preacher who led the American Civil Rights Movement in the 1960's.  While most of us are familiar with his famous "I have a dream" speech, there are many other interesting facts about this extraordinary man, some of which are listed below:

1. He was born Michael King Jr. after his father, Michael King Sr., but the senior King changed their names to Martin Luther King Sr. and Jr. when Martin Jr. was about 5 years old.
2. The younger King was one out of only 11 African-American students in 1948 at Crozer Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania; in his third year there, he was elected class president. He graduated with honors as class valedictorian.
3. In 1963, he became was the first African-American to be named Time magazine's Man of the Year.
4. At the age of 35, he became the youngest man to have been honored with the Nobel Peace Prize. He donated the prize money of $54,123 to benefit the civil rights movement.
5. Between 1957 and 1968, he traveled more than 6 million miles and spoke at more than 2,500 events.
6. He was arrested 30 times and was awarded at least 50 honorary degrees from colleges and universities.
7. There are more than 900 streets named after him in the United States — and the number continues to grow.
8. In 1968, the first legislation was introduced by U.S. Rep. John Conyers Jr. of Michigan to make King's birthday a federal holiday. The bill was finally turned into law in November 1983 and the first official holiday was observed on the third Monday of January in 1986.
9. King is the only non-president to have a national holiday in his name, and is the only non-president with a memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
10. In 1994, Congress designated Martin Luther King Jr. Federal Holiday as a national day of service, which is led by Corporation for National and Community Service. It is the only federal holiday observed as a national day of service – a "day on, not a day off." (To find a local project for which to volunteer, visit the MLKday.gov website.)

The source for this list is an article by Melissa Breyer posted on January 9, 2014 on the website Mother Nature Network, www.mnn.com.

Editor's Note: Suanne Z. Thamm is a native of Chautauqua County, NY, who moved to Fernandina Beach from Alexandria,VA, in 1994. As a long time city resident and city watcher, she provides interesting insight into the many issues that impact our city. We are grateful for Suanne's many contributions to the Fernandina Observer.