Jan 13, 2024 3 min read

Decades later, MLK’s legacy still strongly resonates

The birthday of Martin Luther King Jr., became a federal holiday 41 years ago, a culmination of efforts that began shortly after he was assassinated in Memphis, Tenn., in 1968 when he was just 39 years old.

This means the holiday marking King’s life has been in existence longer than King’s whole lifespan. The overwhelming majority of Americans who are alive today have no direct recollection of King, and almost all of his close associates have either died or are very old. King – or MLK, as many of us now refer to him – is as much a fixture of American history as George Washington, Abraham Lincoln or Franklin Roosevelt.

But even though his life and achievements are woven deep into our history, that doesn’t mean what he said and did no longer has contemporary resonance. Last year, a new biography of King by Jonathan Eig, who had previously penned a biography of Muhammad Ali, was nominated for a National Book Award and received glowing reviews. It’s estimated that about 3 million people visit the King memorial in Washington, D.C., each year, and the historical site in Atlanta where King and his wife, Coretta Scott King, are buried draws more than 600,000 visitors annually.

It’s easy to forget that in King’s life he was a controversial figure. He was hounded by the FBI, his outspoken opposition to the Vietnam War, and campaigns for social justice in the last few years of his life drove down his public approval. Even many Blacks questioned whether his advocacy of nonviolence was paying dividends in the struggle for civil rights. According to a Harris Poll conducted shortly before his death, King’s public disapproval rating was at 75%.

Today, though, King is remembered for his bravery and his eloquence. King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” which he wrote while incarcerated in Birmingham, Ala., in 1963, is regularly taught in classrooms and is one of the most important American texts. In it, King wrote, “Before the pen of (Thomas) Jefferson etched the majestic words of the Declaration of Independence across the pages of history, we were here. For more than two centuries our forebears labored in the country without wages; they made cotton king; they built the homes of the masters while suffering gross injustice and shameful humiliation – and yet out of a bottomless vitality, they continued to thrive and develop. If the inexpressible cruelties of slavery could not stop us, the opposition we now face will surely fail.”

In “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” King also said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly.”

As we mark the MLK holiday, we need to keep his words at the forefront of our thoughts.