H. Res. 73 
In the House of Representatives, U. S., 
January 21, 2009. 
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 At-
lanta, 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 Pas-
tor of Ebenezer Baptist Church; 
Whereas Dr. King was awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree in 
1948 from Morehouse College, a Bachelor of Divinity de-
gree in 1951 from Crozer Theological Seminary in Penn-
sylvania, 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 Ave-
nue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama, and was 
pastor from September 1954 to November 1959, when he
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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 
non-violence and courage in the face of hatred; 
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 five books and numerous articles supporting efforts 
around the country to end injustice and bring about so-
cial 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 peo-
ple, 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
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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 under-
standing and respect and helped communities, and the 
United States as a whole, to act cooperatively and coura-
geously to restore tolerance, justice, and equality between 
people; 
Whereas on the evening of April 4, 1968, Dr. King was as-
sassinated while standing on the balcony of his motel 
room in Memphis, Tennessee, where he was to lead sani-
tation workers in protest against low wages and intoler-
able working conditions; 
Whereas Dr. King dedicated his life to securing the funda-
mental principles of the United States of liberty and jus-
tice 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 
world-wide 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 injus-
tice, and believed that people have the moral capacity to 
care for other people; 
Whereas Dr. King awakened the conscience and conscious-
ness of the United States and used his message of hope
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to bring people together to build the ‘‘Beloved Commu-
nity’’, 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 es-
tablish Dr. King’s birthday as a Federal holiday; 
Whereas in 1983, Congress passed and President Ronald 
Reagan signed legislation creating the birthday of Martin 
Luther King, Jr. holiday, which is now observed in more 
than 100 countries; 
Whereas Dr. King’s wife and indispensable partner, Coretta 
Scott King, was a woman of quiet courage and great dig-
nity 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 non-violence, women’s and 
children’s rights, gay rights, religious freedom, full em-
ployment, health care, and education until her death on 
January 30, 2006; 
Whereas the values of faith, compassion, courage, truth, jus-
tice, and non-violence that guided Dr. and Mrs. King’s 
dream for America will be celebrated and preserved by 
the Martin Luther King, Jr., National Memorial on the 
National Mall between the Lincoln Memorial and the Jef-
ferson Memorial and in the new National Museum of Af-
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rican American History and Culture that will be located 
in the shadow of the Washington Monument; 
Whereas Dr. King’s actions and leadership made the United 
States a better place and the American people a better 
people; 
Whereas 45 years after Dr. King delivered his historic ‘‘I 
have a dream’’ speech, millions of United States citizens 
gathered on the National Mall on January 20, 2009, to 
witness the historic Inauguration of the 44th President 
of the United States, Barack Obama, the first African- 
American President of the United States; and 
Whereas the historic Inauguration of President Barack 
Obama dramatized the change that Dr. King helped to 
usher in for the creation of a more perfect union: Now, 
therefore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) observes the 80th birthday of Martin Luther 
King, Jr.; 
(2) pledges to advance the legacy of Dr. Martin Lu-
ther King, Jr.; and 
(3) encourages the people of the United States to— 
(A) observe the 80th birthday of Martin Lu-
ther King, Jr., and the life of Dr. King; 
(B) commemorate the legacy of Dr. King, so 
that, as Dr. King hoped, ‘‘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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(C) remember the message of Dr. King and re-
dedicate themselves to Dr. King’s goal of a free and 
just United States. 
Attest: 
Clerk.