It wasn’t for 15 years until after King’s death that civil rights activists finally succeeded in making Martin Luther King Jr. Day a nationally observed holiday.. On Nov. 2, 1983, Reagan ...

Martin Luther King III on Trump's inauguration 05:59. Only once before since it became a federal holiday has Martin Luther King Jr. Day fallen on the same day as a presidential inauguration. That ...

Martin Luther King Jr. often spoke of creating “the beloved community,” a society in which “men can live together without fear,” as he wrote in a 1966 essay.

Who killed Martin Luther King Jr.? James Earl Ray, a 40-year-old who had been in and out of prison, confessed to killing King and was sentenced to 99 years in jail for it.

Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1966. Getty Images “So King steps up to the podium at Holt Street Baptist Church on Dec. 5, 1955 and gives this incredible speech, and it's the first time that most ...

More in the Sanitation Workers march, soon after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Memphis, TN, April 1968. (Photo by Robert Abbott Sengstacke/Getty Images) Getty Images.