Happy Birthday, Dr. King

Issued in 1999 as part of the Celebrate the Century: 1960s series, the above stamp pays tribute to Dr. King's famous "I Have a Dream" speech, delivered on August 28, 1963, to 250,000 supporters in Washington DC. 

Dr. King was a key figure in the civil rights’ movement and was an advocate of using non-violent means to protest discrimination. At the age of 35, he was the youngest person to receive a Nobel Peace Prize at the time.

He was assassinated in 1968, and many civil rights’ activists petitioned for a holiday to be declared in his honor. President Ronald Reagan declared a holiday in observance of the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. The first Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday was observed on January  20, 1986. Martin Luther King, Jr’s actual birthday was on January 15, 1929. The holiday celebrating his life and recognizing his accomplishments in the civil rights’ movement is designed to fall near his birthday --- on the third Monday in January since 1992.

The purpose of the public holiday is to remember the struggles that people have had to overcome to obtain civil rights. In recent years, the holiday has become an opportunity for Americans to dedicate their day off to providing volunteer services to charitable organizations.