Martin Luther King Day

"Free at last, free at last
Thank God Almighty, we are free at last"

I was only 8 years old when Martin Luther King gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. Even as a child, the speech touched my heart. As I grew older, I studied it in High School Speech classes and at college in Public Speaking Classes. I wanted to be as good with words as he was. I wanted to be able to mesmerize people when they heard me speak. It didn’t happen. In preparing this blog, I went to Youtube and tried to figure out how to put a portion of his speech on the blog, but that’s beyond my abilities today. Now maybe tomorrow, I will be able to do so after someone tells me how!

The speech, which King delivered on Aug. 28, 1963, will air at noon today during CNN’s “From MLK to Today” special which runs from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. CNN anchors Soledad O’Brien, Don Lemon and political analyst Roland Martin will host the special from the National Mall.

Here’s some brief info about the holiday itself.

Each year on the third Monday of January schools, federal offices, post office and banks across America close as we celebrate Martin Luther King Day.

15 years after Dr. King's death President Ronald Reagan signed a bill into law making the third Monday of January a national holiday celebrating the birth and life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr

It was not an easy thing to do.

First a bill had to be introduced by a member of the House of Representatives. The Speaker of the House assigned the bill to a committee where the bill was discussed in detail. Meetings were held where supporters and opposers could discuss their positions. The committee then agreed that bill should be sent to a vote. The Rules Committee scheduled a debate on the issue. The House of Representatives then voted on the bill. It passed the House with a vote of 338 to 90. Then it was sent to the Senate

Again the issue of the King holiday had to pass through committees and public hearings before a final vote was taken

There were many who opposed the idea of holiday for Dr. King. America had only honored two individuals with national holidays - George Washington and Christopher Columbus. Many felt that there were other Americans that deserved a national holiday, such as Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy

One barrier to the confirmation was the Senator from Georgia who had denounced Dr. King as a communist

Others feared the King holiday was meant as a way to make up to African-Americans for slavery. Other feared the cost of the holiday, with the extra overtime paid to federal workers who had to work on the holiday as well as millions to those federal employees who were paid for the day

Senator Bob Dole pointed out to those critics '"I suggest they hurry back to their pocket calculators and estimate the cost of 300 years of slavery, followed by a century or more of economic, political and social exclusion and discrimination"

It took many years for Congress to decide to celebrate the holiday. In the years leading up to the official decree many African-Americans celebrated the birthday themselves with a few states declaring King's birthday a state holiday. The bill was finally passed by both the House of Representatives and the Senate and was signed into law on November 2, 1983

The first national celebration of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday took place January 20, 1986. The theme of this years holiday is Remember! Celebrate! Act! A Day On, Not A Day Off!

Yesterday, I received an email from Peg in Ohio suggesting National Sweets Day (a holiday in the Midwest) and I replied to her that that was my kind of holiday. I could post a blog with candy recipes! That got me to wondering if Martin Luther King had a favorite food. I googled it and sure enough, there were pages of references to his love of Pecan Pie. So, here is a super easy recipe

Pecan Pie
3 eggs
1 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 cup corn syrup
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups pecans
1 (9 inch) unbaked pie shell

Preheat your oven to 350 F or 175 C. In a medium bowl- gently beat eggs. Stir in sugar and flour, then the syrup, butter and vanilla. Fold in pecans. Pour mixture into pie shell. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes; knife inserted in center of pie should come out clean.

Some of this info was extracted from www.holidays.net/mlk/holiday.htm