It was first proposed four days after King's 1968 assassination outside a Memphis motel. It took 15 years until it became a federal holiday.

The dual celebrations of a second Trump inauguration and the civil rights leader’s birth raise profound questions about Black leadership and progress toward the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream.

Martin Luther King, Jr. (January 15, 1929-April 4, 1968) was one of the most prominent leaders of America's Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s and 60s. His words and actions have left a lasting mark on America and the world as a whole,