Watch Now: MLK Day marked across country with marches, speeches
Americans must commit to the unfinished work of Martin Luther King Jr., delivering jobs and justice and protecting “the sacred right to vote, a right from which all other rights flow,” President Joe Biden said Monday.
Martin Luther King Day is a moment when a mirror is being held up to America, the president said in a video address.
“It’s time for every elected official in America to make it clear where they stand,” Biden said. “It’s time for every American to stand up. Speak out, be heard. Where do you stand?”
Major holiday events included marches in several cities and the annual Martin Luther King Jr. service at the slain civil rights leader’s Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, where U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock is the senior pastor. Pews have been packed by politicians in past years, but given the pandemic, they offered pre-recorded speeches instead.
Monday would have been the 93rd birthday of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., who was just 39 when he was assassinated in 1968 while helping sanitation workers strike for better pay and workplace safety in Memphis, Tennessee.
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ASSOCIATED PRESS
An undated picture of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthplace, 501 Auburn Avenue N.E., Atlanta, Ga. Dr. King was born here Jan. 15, 1929. (AP Photo)
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ASSOCIATED PRESS
Martin Luther King, third from left, listens to a speaker during an assembly at Morehouse College, in Atlanta, GA, in 1948. King subsequently graduated from the college with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology. (AP Photo)
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Gene Herrick
The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. is welcomed with a kiss by his wife Coretta after leaving court in Montgomery, Ala., March 22, 1956. King was found guilty of conspiracy to boycott city buses in a campaign to desegregate the bus system, but a judge suspended his $500 fine pending appeal. (AP Photo/Gene Herrick)
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STF
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., civil rights leader, shakes hands with Paul Dietrich just before a bus of Freedom Riders left Montgomery, Alabama, May 24, 1961. Dietrich, ministerial student from Virginia, joined the Freedom Riders. (AP Photo)
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Anonymous
Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., speaks to an overflow crowd in Detroit's Cobo Hall Arena on Sunday, June 24, 1963, following the Freedom March. An estimated 100,000 people paraded to the hall through downtown Detroit and gathered in the hall and overflowed outside to hear him speak. (AP Photo)
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ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Rev. Martin Luther King, third from right, head of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, was among national figures present on July 2, 1964, as President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Bill. From left, standing , as Johnson passes some of the 72 pens used: Rep. Roland Libonati, D-Ill; Rep. Peter Rodino, D-NJ; Rev. King; Rep. Emanuel Celler, D-NY, and Whitney Young, executive director of the National Urban League. (AP Photo)
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JAB
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. , right, chats with Greenwood African Americans on their front porch during his door-to-door campaign, telling all African Americans to register to vote and support his Miss. Freedom Democratic party. King arrived on July 21, 1964 in Greenwood for the beginning of a 5-day tour of Mississippi towns. (AP Photo/JAB)
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John Lindsay
Civil Rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King displays pictures of three civil rights workers at news conference on Dec. 4, 1964 in New York City. The workers were slain in Mississippi the previous summer. Dr. King commended the FBI for its arrests in Mississippi on Dec. 4 in connection with the slayings. King held photos of Andrew Goodman; James Chaney; and Michael Schwerner. The three civil rights workers disappeared in Mississippi near the town of Philadelphia, northeast of Jackson. (AP Photo/ John Lindsay)
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ASSOCIATED PRESS
In smoke and fire from hundreds of torches, Dr. Martin Luther King arrives with his wife Coretta Scott King, to deliver the traditional address of the winner of Nobel Peace Prize at the University of Oslo's Festival Hall, Dec. 11, 1964. Behind left: Rev. Ralph Abernathy, who Dr. King especially introduced as his trusted comrade from 13 times in jail together. (AP Photo)
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HORACE CORT
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. shakes his fist during a speech in Selma, Ala., Feb. 12, 1965. King was engaged in a battle with Sheriff Jim Clark over voting rights and voter registration in Selma. (AP Photo/Horace Cort)
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Anonymous
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. locks arms with his aides as he leads a march of several thousands to the court house in Montgomery, Ala., March 17, 1965. From left: Rev. Ralph Abernathy, James Foreman, King, Jesse Douglas, Sr., and John Lewis (partially out of frame). (AP Photo)
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Anonymous
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., uses a megaphone to address demonstrators assembled at the courthouse in Montgomery, Alabama, March 17, 1965 after a meeting with Sheriff Mac Butler left and other public officials. (AP Photo)
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Anonymous
A Polish refugee Jozef Mlot-Mroz of Salem, Mass., showed up at the originating point of a civil rights march led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., carrying a sign denouncing King in Boston, April 23, 1965. Assistant parade marshals gathered around him arm-in-arm and quickly isolated Mroz. (AP Photo)
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Anonymous
The Rev. Martin Luther King, integration leader, addresses a crowd on a street in Lakeview, New York May 12, 1965. The Nobel Prize winner arrived in the day from Atlanta, Ga., for a whirlwind tour of Nassau County to advance the cause of African Americans in that area. (AP Photo)
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AP
During a visit to a pool hall, Feb. 18, 1966, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., campaigning in Chicago for better living conditions for African Americans, demonstrates some proficiency with a cue. (AP Photo)
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Anonymous
Neshoba County Deputy Sheriff Cecil Price, left, halts a civil rights march at the Neshoba County Courthouse in Philadelphia led by Dr. Martin Luther King, right, and the Rev. Ralph Abernathy of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, June 21, 1966. The march was held in memory of three civil rights workers killed in 1963 in Neshoba County. (AP Photo)
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Anonymous
Dr. Martin Luther King, left, with Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) at the Southern Christian Leadership Conference banquet in Jackson, Mississippi, Aug. 8, 1966. (AP Photo)
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Charles Harrity
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., tells a press conference in Chicago, March 24, 1967 that civil rights demonstrations in Chicago “…will be on a much more massive scale than last summer.” King said marches will include some by African American pupils to all-white schools. (AP Photo/Charles Harrity)
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CHICK HARRITY
Dr. Martin Luther King speaks March 25, 1967, at the Chicago peace march. (AP Photo/Chick Harrity)
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Charles Kelly
The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. stands with other civil rights leaders on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tenn., on April 3, 1968, a day before he was assassinated at approximately the same place. From left are Hosea Williams, Jesse Jackson, King, and Ralph Abernathy. The 39-year-old Nobel Laureate was the proponent of non-violence in the 1960's American civil rights movement. King is honored with a national U.S. holiday celebrated in January. (AP Photo/Charles Kelly)
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CHARLES E. KELLY
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is seen here with Rev. Jesse Jackson, left, just prior to his final public appearance to address striking Memphis sanitation workers on April 4, 1968. King was assassinated later that day outside his motel room. (AP Photo/Charles Kelly)
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Horace Cort
Children pass the bier of slain civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in Atlanta, Georgia, April 6, 1968 after the body was placed on public view. (AP Photo/Horace Cort)
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STF
A brace of plow mules draws the farm wagon bearing the casket of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., along the funeral procession route in Atlanta, Ga., April 9, 1968. The civil rights leader was standing on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel when he was killed by a rifle bullet on April 4, 1968. James Earl Ray pleaded guilty to the killing and was sentenced to 99 years in prison. He died in prison in 1998. (AP Photo)
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Carolyn Kaster
In a long exposure photo, lights from a snowplow illuminate sleet at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington, Sunday, Jan. 16, 2022. Ceremonies scheduled for the site on Monday, to mark the Martin Luther King Jr. national holiday, have been canceled because of the weather. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
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Carolyn Kaster
Visitors look to the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial as snow falls in Washington, Sunday, Jan. 16, 2022. Ceremonies scheduled for the site on Monday, to mark the Martin Luther King, Jr. national holiday, have been canceled because of the weather. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
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Carolyn Kaster
Shelby Batch, 12, of California, clears snow from the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial in Washington, Sunday, Jan. 16, 2022. Ceremonies scheduled for the site on Monday, to mark the Martin Luther King, Jr. national holiday, have been canceled because of the weather. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
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Carolyn Kaster
Snow covers the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington, Sunday, Jan. 16, 2022. Ceremonies scheduled for the site on Monday, to mark the Martin Luther King Jr. national holiday, have been canceled because of the weather. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
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Branden Camp
FILE - Flowers lay in front of the birthplace of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., on Jan. 18, 2021, in Atlanta. The annual Martin Luther King Jr. service is set to be held at his old congregation in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Branden Camp, File)
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Andrew Harnik
FILE - Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., speaks during a Senate Banking Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Nov. 30, 2021. The U.S. Senate’s only Black Republican is putting forth what he characterizes as a positive response to partisan rhetoric on race that he’s best-positioned to rebut. Tim Scott of South Carolina tells The Associated Press that he hopes a video series on issues he sees as pertinent to the Black community will help refocus a fraught national conversation on race. Scott has timed the release in conjunction with Martin Luther King Jr. Day. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)
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Amanda Andrade-Rhoades
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen speaks to lawmakers on Capitol Hill in Washington, Dec. 1, 2021. The U.S. economy “has never worked fairly for Black Americans — or, really, for any American of color,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a speech delivered Monday, Jan. 17, 2022 one of many by national leaders acknowledging unmet needs for racial equality on Martin Luther King Day. (AP Photo/Amanda Andrade-Rhoades, file)
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STF
FILE - In this Aug. 28, 1963, file photo, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. addresses marchers during his "I Have a Dream" speech at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington. The U.S. economy “has never worked fairly for Black Americans — or, really, for any American of color,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a speech delivered Monday, Jan. 17, 2022 one of many by national leaders acknowledging unmet needs for racial equality on Martin Luther King Day. (AP Photo, File)
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Mark Hoffman
Sculptor Max Zuleta assembles an ice sculpture of Martin Luther King Jr. prior to a ceremony where the last few blocks of what was 3rd Street downtown that have been renamed Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive at its intersection with W. Wisconsin Ave. Monday, Jan. 17, 2022 in Milwaukee, Wis. The 1400 pound ice sculpture took 14 hours to create, which is longer than normal, because the face had to be specific to King. He is from Franksville, Wis. (Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel via AP)