IV 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 30 

Recognizing the 94th birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr., and the 40th 

anniversary of the Martin Luther King, Jr., Holiday. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 12, 2023 

Mr. BISHOP of Georgia (for himself, Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, Mr. PAYNE, 

Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi, Ms. JACOBS, Mr. DOGGETT, Ms. 

VELA ́ZQUEZ, Ms. JACKSON LEE, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Mr. VICENTE GONZALEZ of Texas, Ms. NORTON, Mr. HORSFORD, Mr. DAVID SCOTT of 

Georgia, Ms. OMAR, Mr. SWALWELL, Ms. LEE of California, Ms. MOORE

of Wisconsin, Ms. BARRAGA ́N, Mr. MEEKS, Mr. COSTA, Mr. MORELLE, 

Ms. KAPTUR, Ms. SCANLON, Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. JOHNSON of 

Georgia, Ms. TLAIB, Mr. RUPPERSBERGER, Mr. KHANNA, Mr. TORRES

of New York, Mr. COHEN, Ms. WILSON of Florida, Ms. ESCOBAR, Mrs. 

TORRES of California, Mr. CLEAVER, Ms. BROWNLEY, Mr. THOMPSON of 

California, Mr. KILMER, Ms. WILLIAMS of Georgia, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, 

Ms. ROSS, Mr. CARSON, Mr. BOYLE of Pennsylvania, Ms. CLARKE of 

New York, Ms. STEVENS, Mr. JACKSON of Illinois, Mr. CA ́RDENAS, Mr. 

MFUME, Ms. SEWELL, Ms. TITUS, Mr. GREEN of Texas, Mr. KIM of New 

Jersey, Ms. TOKUDA, Ms. LOFGREN, Mr. TRONE, Ms. DELAURO, Ms. 

BONAMICI, Ms. BUDZINSKI, Mrs. HAYES, Mr. CORREA, Mr. SCOTT of 

Virginia, Ms. KAMLAGER-DOVE, Mr. EVANS, Mr. TONKO, Mr. VARGAS, 

Mr. CUELLAR, Mr. GRIJALVA, Ms. PLASKETT, Mrs. LEE of Nevada, Mr. 

LYNCH, Mr. RUIZ, Ms. MENG, Ms. ADAMS, Mr. BEYER, Mrs. MCBATH, 

Mrs. CHERFILUS-MCCORMICK, Mr. ESPAILLAT, Ms. BUSH, Mr. BOWMAN, 

and Mr. MOSKOWITZ) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

RESOLUTION 

Recognizing the 94th birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr., 

and the 40th anniversary of the Martin Luther King, 

Jr., Holiday. 


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Whereas Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Junior, was 

born January 15, 1929; 

Whereas Dr. King attended segregated public schools in 

Georgia, and began attending Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, at the age of 15; 

Whereas, in February of 1948, Dr. King was ordained in the 

Christian ministry at the age of 19 at Ebenezer Baptist 

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

Whereas Dr. King was awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree in 

1948 from Morehouse College, a Bachelor of Divinity degree in 1951, from Crozer Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania, and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in theology 

in 1955, from Boston University; 

Whereas, in Boston, Massachusetts, Dr. King met Coretta 

Scott, his life partner and fellow civil rights activist; 

Whereas, on June 18, 1953, Dr. King and Coretta Scott were 

married and later had two sons and two daughters; 

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

pastor from September 1954 to November 1959, when he 

resigned to move back to Atlanta to lead the Southern 

Christian Leadership Conference; 

Whereas Dr. King led the Montgomery, Alabama, bus boycott 

for 381 days to protest the arrest of Rosa Parks and the 

segregation of the bus system of Montgomery, during 

which time Dr. King was arrested and the home of Dr. 

King was bombed; 

Whereas Dr. King responded to arrests and violence with 

nonviolence and courage in the face of hatred; 


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Whereas the Montgomery bus boycott was the first great 

nonviolent civil rights demonstration of contemporary 

times in the United States; 

Whereas, on December 13, 1956, the Supreme Court declared laws requiring segregation on buses unconstitutional; 

Whereas, between 1957 and 1968, Dr. King traveled more 

than 6,000,000 miles, spoke more than 2,500 times, and 

wrote 5 books and numerous articles supporting efforts 

around the country to end injustice and bring about social change and desegregation; 

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

co-pastor with his father at Ebenezer Baptist Church; 

Whereas, on August 28, 1963, Dr. King led the March on 

Washington, DC, the largest rally of the civil rights 

movement, during which, from the steps of the Lincoln 

Memorial and before a crowd of more than 200,000 people, Dr. King delivered his famous ‘‘I Have A Dream’’ 

speech, one of the classic orations in American history; 

Whereas Dr. King was a champion of nonviolence, fervently 

advocated nonviolent resistance as the strategy to end 

segregation and racial discrimination in America, and in 

1964, at age 35, became the youngest man to be awarded 

the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition for his efforts; 

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 

United States as a whole, to act cooperatively and couraVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:56 Jan 12, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR30.IH HR30

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geously to restore tolerance, justice, and equality among 

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 Dr. King dedicated his life to securing the fundamental principles of the United States of liberty and justice for all United States citizens; 

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

time, spearheading the civil rights movement in the 

United States during the 1950s and 1960s and earning 

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 people have the moral capacity to 

care for other people; 

Whereas Dr. King awakened the conscience and consciousness of the United States and used his message of hope 

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

Whereas, in 1968, Representative John Conyers introduced 

legislation to establish the birthday of Martin Luther 

King, Jr., as a Federal holiday; 

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

Whereas, in 1983, Congress passed and President Ronald 

Reagan signed legislation creating the birthday of Martin 


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Luther King, Jr., holiday, which is now observed in more 

than 100 countries; 

Whereas, January 16, 2023, will be the 40th anniversary of 

the Martin Luther King, Jr., Holiday; 

Whereas Dr. King’s wife and indispensable partner, Coretta 

Scott King, was a woman of quiet courage and great dignity who marched alongside her husband and became an 

international advocate for peace and human rights; 

Whereas Coretta Scott 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 United States toward greater justice 

and equality, traveling the world on behalf of 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 America are now celebrated and preserved by 

the Martin Luther King, Jr., National Memorial on the 

National Mall and in the National Museum of African 

American History and Culture; 

Whereas the Martin Luther King, Jr., Center for Nonviolent 

Social Change was established by Coretta Scott King in 

1968, continues to inspire millions of visitors under the 

leadership of their 3 living children, Dr. Bernice A. King, 

Martin Luther King III, and Dexter S. King; 

Whereas the Drum Major Institute, founded in 1961 and now 

led by Martin Luther King III, his wife Arndrea Waters 

King, and their daughter, Yolanda Renee King, the only 


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grandchild of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., continues Dr. 

King’s legacy of building a world free of racism, poverty, 

and violence, and empowers people and organizations who 

are building the beloved community by promoting peace, 

justice, and equity for all; and 

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

States a better place and the American people a better 

people: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 

2 (1) observes the 94th birthday of Martin Lu3 ther King, Jr.; 

4 (2) observes the 40th anniversary of the Martin 

5 Luther King, Jr., Holiday; 

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

7 Luther King, Jr.; and 

8 (4) encourages the people of the United States 

9 to— 

10 (A) observe the 94th birthday of Martin 

11 Luther King, Jr., and the life of Dr. King; 

12 (B) commemorate the legacy of Dr. King, 

13 so that, as Dr. King hoped, ‘‘one day this Na14 tion will rise up and live out the true meaning 

15 of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evi16 dent; that all men are created equal’ ’’; and 


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1 (C) remember the message of Dr. King 

2 and rededicate themselves to Dr. King’s goal of 

3 a free and just United States. 

Æ 


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