[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 61 Engrossed in House (EH)]
In the House of Representatives, U. S.,
January 16, 2007.
Whereas Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Junior, was born January 15, 1929;
Whereas Dr. King attended segregated public schools in Georgia, and began
attending Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, at the age of 15;
Whereas in February of 1948, Dr. King was ordained in the Christian ministry at
the age of 19 at Ebenezer Baptist Church, in Atlanta, Georgia, and
became Assistant Pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church;
Whereas Dr. King was awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1948 from Morehouse
College, a Bachelor of Divinity degree in 1951 from Crozer Theological
Seminary in Pennsylvania, and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in theology
in 1955 from Boston University;
Whereas in Boston, Massachusetts, Dr. King met Coretta Scott, his life partner
and fellow civil rights activist;
Whereas on June 18, 1953, Dr. King and Coretta Scott were married and later had
two sons and two daughters;
Whereas in 1954, Dr. King accepted the call of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in
Montgomery, Alabama, and was pastor from September 1954 to November
1959, when he resigned to move back to Atlanta to lead the Southern
Christian Leadership Conference;
Whereas Dr. King led the Montgomery, Alabama, bus boycott for 381 days to
protest the arrest of Rosa Parks and the segregation of the bus system
of Montgomery, during which time Dr. King was arrested and the home of
Dr. King was bombed;
Whereas Dr. King responded to arrests and violence with non-violence and courage
in the face of hatred;
Whereas the Montgomery bus boycott was the first great nonviolent civil rights
demonstration of contemporary times in the United States;
Whereas on December 21, 1956, the Supreme Court declared laws requiring
segregation on buses unconstitutional;
Whereas between 1957 and 1968, Dr. King traveled more than 6,000,000 miles,
spoke more than 2,500 times, and wrote five books and numerous articles
supporting efforts around the country to end injustice and bring about
social change and desegregation;
Whereas from 1960 until his death in 1968, Dr. King was co-pastor with his
father at Ebenezer Baptist Church;
Whereas on August 28, 1963, Dr. King led the March on Washington, D.C., the
largest rally of the civil rights movement, during which, from the steps
of the Lincoln Memorial and before a crowd of more than 200,000 people,
Dr. King delivered his famous `I Have A Dream' speech, one of the
classic orations in American history;
Whereas Dr. King was a champion of nonviolence, fervently advocated nonviolent
resistance as the strategy to end segregation and racial discrimination
in America, and in 1964, at age 35, became the youngest man to be
awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition for his efforts;
Whereas through his work and reliance on nonviolent protest, Dr. King was
instrumental in the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the
Voting Rights Act of 1965;
Whereas the work of Dr. King created a basis of understanding and respect and
helped communities, and the United States as a whole, to act
cooperatively and courageously to restore tolerance, justice, and
equality between people;
Whereas on the evening of April 4, 1968, Dr. King was assassinated while
standing on the balcony of his motel room in Memphis, Tennessee, where
he was to lead sanitation workers in protest against low wages and
intolerable working conditions;
Whereas Dr. King dedicated his life to securing the fundamental principles of
the United States of liberty and justice for all United States citizens;
Whereas Dr. King was the leading civil rights advocate of his time, spearheading
the civil rights movement in the United States during the 1950's and
1960's and earning world-wide recognition as an eloquent and articulate
spokesperson for equality;
Whereas in the face of hatred and violence, Dr. King preached a doctrine of
nonviolence and civil disobedience to combat segregation,
discrimination, and racial injustice, and believed that people have the
moral capacity to care for other people;
Whereas Dr. King awakened the conscience and consciousness of the United States
and used his message of hope to bring people together to build the
``Beloved Community'' , a community of justice, at peace with itself;
Whereas in 1968, Representative John Conyers introduced legislation to establish
the Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. as a Federal holiday;
Whereas Coretta Scott King led the massive campaign to establish Dr. King's
birthday as a Federal holiday;
Whereas in 1983, Congress passed and President Ronald Reagan signed legislation
creating the Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday, which is now
observed in more than 100 countries;
Whereas Dr. King's wife and indispensable partner, Coretta Scott King, was a
woman of quiet courage and great dignity who marched alongside her
husband and became an international advocate for peace and human rights;
Whereas Coretta Scott King, who had been actively engaged in the civil rights
movement as a politically and socially conscious young woman, continued
after her husband's death to lead the United States toward greater
justice and equality, traveling the world on behalf of racial and
economic justice, peace and non-violence, women's and children's rights,
gay rights, religious freedom, full employment, health care, and
education until her death on January 30, 2006;
Whereas the values of faith, compassion, courage, truth, justice, and non-
violence that guided Dr. and Mrs. King's dream for America will be
celebrated and preserved by the Martin Luther King, Jr., National
Memorial on the National Mall between the Lincoln Memorial and the
Jefferson Memorial and in the new National Museum of African American
History and Culture that will be located in the shadow of the Washington
Monument; and
Whereas Dr. King's actions and leadership made the United States a better place
and the American people a better people: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
(1) observes the Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr.;
(2) pledges to advance the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.;
and
(3) encourages the people of the United States to--
(A) observe the Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr., and the
life of Dr. King;
(B) commemorate the legacy of Dr. King, so that, as Dr. King
hoped, ``one day this Nation will rise up and live out the true
meaning of its creed: `We hold these truths to be self-evident;
that all men are created equal;'''; and
(C) remember the message of Dr. King and rededicate
themselves to Dr. King's goal of a free and just United States.
Attest:
Clerk.