IV 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. RES. 29 

Expressing the sense of the Senate regarding Martin Luther King, Jr. Day 

and the many lessons still to be learned from Dr. King’s example of 

nonviolence, courage, compassion, dignity, and public service. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 12, 2007 

Ms. STABENOW (for herself, Mr. DURBIN, Mr. LIEBERMAN, Mr. ROCKEFELLER, Mr. LEAHY, Mr. KERRY, Mr. MENENDEZ, Mr. BAUCUS, Mr. 

SCHUMER, Mr. SANDERS, Mr. KOHL, Mr. CARDIN, Mr. LAUTENBERG, 

Mr. OBAMA, Mr. WEBB, Ms. MIKULSKI, Mr. LEVIN, Mr. DODD, Mr. 

KENNEDY, Mr. SALAZAR, Mrs. CLINTON, Ms. CANTWELL, Mr. TESTER, 

Mr. BINGAMAN, Mr. BYRD, Mr. BROWN, Mr. BIDEN, Mr. WYDEN, Mr. 

NELSON of Florida, Mrs. FEINSTEIN, Mr. BAYH, Mr. REED, Mrs. 

BOXER, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, Mr. PRYOR, Mr. FEINGOLD, Mr. REID, and 

Mr. SPECTER) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to 

the Committee on the Judiciary 

RESOLUTION 

Expressing the sense of the Senate regarding Martin Luther 

King, Jr. Day and the many lessons still to be learned 

from Dr. King’s example of nonviolence, courage, compassion, dignity, and public service. 

Whereas Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr. dedicated 

his life to securing the Nation’s fundamental principles of 

liberty and justice for all citizens; 

Whereas Dr. King was the leading civil rights advocate of his 

time, spearheading the civil rights movement in the 


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•SRES 29 IS 

United States during the 1950s and 1960s, and earned 

worldwide 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 each person has the moral capacity 

to care for other people; 

Whereas Dr. King awakened the conscience and consciousness of the Nation and used his message of hope to bring 

people together to build the Beloved Community—a community of justice, at peace with itself; 

Whereas Dr. King was born on January 15, 1929, and attended segregated public schools in Georgia; 

Whereas Dr. King began attending Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia at the age of 15, and received a B.A. degree in 1948 from Morehouse College, following in the 

footsteps of both his father and grandfather; 

Whereas Dr. King received his B.D. in 1951 from Crozer 

Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania and his Ph.D. in 

theology in 1955 from Boston University; 

Whereas in Boston Dr. King met Coretta Scott, his life partner and fellow civil rights activist, and they married on 

June 18, 1953, and had 2 sons and 2 daughters; 

Whereas Dr. King was ordained in the Christian ministry in 

February 1948 at the age of 19 at Ebenezer Baptist 

Church, in Atlanta, Georgia, and became Assistant Pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church; 

Whereas, in 1954, Dr. King accepted the call of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama, and was 

pastor there until November 1959, when he resigned to 


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move back to Atlanta to lead the Southern Christian 

Leadership Conference; 

Whereas from 1960 until his death in 1968, Dr. King was 

again a pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church, along with 

his father; 

Whereas between 1957 and 1968, Dr. King traveled over 

6,000,000 miles, spoke over 2,500 times, and wrote 5 

books and numerous articles, supporting efforts around 

the Nation to end injustice and bring about social change 

and desegregation; 

Whereas Dr. King led the Montgomery bus boycott for 381 

days to protest the arrest of Mrs. Rosa Parks and the 

segregation of the bus system of Montgomery, Alabama, 

in the first great nonviolent civil rights demonstration of 

contemporary times in the United States; 

Whereas during the boycott, Dr. King was arrested and his 

home was bombed, yet he responded with nonviolence and 

courage in the face of hatred; 

Whereas, on November 13, 1956, the Supreme Court of the 

United States declared the laws requiring segregation in 

Montgomery’s bus system to be unconstitutional, leading 

to the end of the bus boycott on December 21, 1956; 

Whereas Dr. King led the March on Washington, D.C. on 

August 28, 1963, the largest rally of the civil rights 

movement; 

Whereas during during that march, Dr. King delivered his famous ‘‘I Have A Dream’’ speech from the steps of the 

Lincoln Memorial and before a crowd of over 200,000 

people; 

Whereas Dr. King’s ‘‘I Have A Dream’’ speech is one of the 

classic orations in United States history; 


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Whereas Dr. King was a champion of nonviolence, fervently 

advocating nonviolent resistance as the strategy to end 

segregation and racial discrimination in the United 

States; 

Whereas Dr. King was awarded the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize 

in recognition for his efforts, and, at the age of 35, was 

the youngest man to receive the Nobel Peace Prize; 

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 

Nation as a whole, to act cooperatively and courageously 

to achieve 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 in 1968 Representative John Conyers first introduced legislation to establish a national holiday honoring 

Dr. King; 

Whereas Coretta Scott King led a massive campaign to establish Dr. King’s birthday as a national holiday; 

Whereas in 1983 Congress passed and President Ronald 

Reagan signed legislation establishing Martin Luther 

King, Jr. Day; 

Whereas in 2007 Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is celebrated 

in more than 100 countries; 


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Whereas in remembering Dr. King we also honor his wife and 

indispensable partner, Coretta Scott King, a woman of 

quiet courage and great dignity who marched alongside 

her husband and became an international advocate for 

peace and human rights; 

Whereas Mrs. 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 Nation toward greater justice and equality for 

all, traveling the world advocating for racial and economic justice, peace and nonviolence, 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 nonviolence that guided Dr. and Mrs. King’s 

dream for the United States will be celebrated and preserved by the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial on the National Mall near the Jefferson Memorial 

and in the new National Museum of African American 

History and Culture that will be located near the Lincoln 

Memorial; 

Whereas Dr. King’s actions and leadership made the United 

States a better place and the people of the United States 

a better people; 

Whereas the people of the United States should commemorate the legacy of Dr. King, so ‘‘that 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 


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Whereas Dr. King’s voice is silenced today, but on the national holiday honoring Dr. King and throughout the 

year, the people of the United States should remember 

his message, recommit to his goal of a free and just nation, and consider each person’s responsibility to other 

people: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the Senate— 

2 (1) observes and celebrates the national holiday 

3 honoring Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr.; 

4 (2) honors Dr. King’s example of nonviolence, 

5 courage, compassion, dignity, and public service; 

6 (3) pledges to advance the legacy of the Dr. 

7 King; and 

8 (4) encourages the people of the United States 

9 to celebrate— 

10 (A) the national holiday honoring Dr. 

11 King; and 

12 (B) the life and legacy of Dr. King. 

Æ 


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