Martin Luther King, Jr. would have been 83 yesterday. Today is the day we honor him with a national holiday that, little by little, is actually being observed. Ronald Reagan signed it into law in 1983 and it was first observed in 1986. At first, some states resisted observing it by giving it alternative names or combining it with other holidays. It was officially observed in all 50 states for the first time in 2000. If you are off work today, or even if you are not, I hope you will take at least a few moments to consider and pay tribute to this great man, who helped change our country for the better. If you have never read his "I Have a Dream" speech, in which he called for racial equality and an end to discrimination, maybe you'll take the time to do so now. (Or listen to him here.) It was delivered on August 28, 1963, to more than 200,000 civil rights supporters, from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, and was a defining moment of the American Civil Rights Movement.
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