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January/February

2024

Newsletter

Happy New Year;

Dr. Martin Luther King Holiday;

Black History Month


(Subscriptions for January and February are 1/2 price

to honor Dr. King and Black History Month!)

Happy New Year to All

Happy Birthday, Dr. King

Monday, January 15, 2024

Dr. Martin Luther King's actual birthday & celebrated birthday

January 15, 1929-- Dr. Martin Luther King born as Michael King in Atlanta, Georgia

Do you know?

How did Dr. King’s birthday became a national holiday?

Follow the timeline, and find out!

 

April 4, 1968—Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr is assassinated while standing on a balcony outside his second-floor room at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee.

 

April 8, 1968 – Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) introduces legislation for a federal holiday to commemorate King, just four days after his assassination.

 

April 9. 1968--The first of two funeral services are held for family and close friends at Ebenezer Baptist Church where King and his father had both served as senior pastors, followed by a three-mile procession to Morehouse College, King's alma mater, for a public service.

 

January 15, 1969 – The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Center in Atlanta sponsors and observes the first annual celebration of King’s birthday.

 

April 1971 – The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) presents to Congress petitions containing over three million signatures in support of the holiday. Congress does not act.

 

1973 – Illinois is the first state to adopt Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a state holiday.

 

November 4, 1978 – The National Council of Churches urges Congress to enact the holiday.

 

1979 – Coretta Scott King speaks before Congress and joint hearings of Congress in a campaign to pass a holiday bill. A petition for the bill receives 300,000 signatures, and President Jimmy Carter supports passage of a bill.

 

November 1979 – The House fails to pass Conyers’ King Holiday bill by five votes.


1982 – Coretta Scott King and Stevie Wonder bring the speaker of the House, Tip O’Neill, petitions with more than six million signatures in favor of a holiday.

 

1983 – Congress passes and President Ronald Reagan signs legislation creating Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a national holiday. Senators Jesse Helms (R-NC) and Gordon Humphrey (R-NH) attempt to block the bill’s passing.

 

January 20, 1986 – First national celebration of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday takes place.


March, 1986--Arizona's governor signs bill to make MLK's birthday; new governor cancels the holiday in 1987; national boycotts led to 1992 ballot vote by Arizona voters who vote overwhelmingly for the holiday.


January 16, 1989 – The King holiday is legal in 44 states.


1991--The NFL moves the 1993 Superbowl site from Phoenix, AZ to Pasadena, CA in support of the MLK Day boycott.


1992--Arizona citizens vote to adopt MLK Day That measure was approved by voters.

 

1994 – Coretta Scott King goes before Congress and quotes King from his 1968 sermon, “The Drum Major Instinct,” in which he said, “Everybody can be great because everybody can serve.” She requests that the holiday be an official national day of humanitarian service.

 

1994 – Congress designates the holiday as a national day of service through the Martin Luther King Jr. Federal Holiday and Service Act.

 

1999 – New Hampshire becomes the last state to adoptMLK Day as a paid state holiday, replacing the optional Civil Rights Day.


May 2, 2000-- Utah becomes the last state to recognize MLK Day by name, renaming its Human Rights Day state holiday.

 

January 17, 2011 – Marks the 25th anniversary of the holiday.

 

December 15, 2021 – The family of King calls for “no celebration” of MLK Day without the passage of voting rights legislation.

How much do you know about Dr. Martin Luther King?

Take the BlacFacs MLK quiz for free and see

Celebrate

How Much Do You Know About Black History Month?

(see correct answers at the bottom of the newsletter)


  1. What is the theme for Black History Month 2024?
  2. Who designates the theme of Black History Month each year?
  3. Which U.S. President officially recognized and changed Black History Month?
  4. What was Black History Month originally called?
  5. In what year did Congress pass Public Law 99-244, officially designating February as National Black History Month?  

Some Important National Black History

Resources, Events and Activities

(for more information, click on the bold-typed lead)

National African American Read-In: The National African American Read-In (AARI) is a groundbreaking effort to encourage communities to read together, centering African American books and authors. It was established in 1990 by the Black Caucus of the National Council of Teachers of English to make literacy a significant part of Black History Month. This initiative has reached more than 6 million participants around the world.


Faith in Florida Black History: A statewide coalition of faith leaders have pledged to teach African American history after the uproar over Florida’s new African American history standards. The coalition offers the free African American history toolkit to leaders of every faith, who want to teach their congregants Black history.


Black History Month Virtual Festival: The Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH) will hold innovative virtual programming in the month of February celebrating the 2024 Black History Theme: Afrcan Americans and the Arts.


Girl Scouth Black History Fun Patch: Are you a girlscout? Number of activities required to get the patch: Daisy (3) • Brownie (4) • Junior (6) • Cadette (8) Senior (10) • Ambassador (12) Now go get your patch! www.girlscoutshop.com.


 National Portrait Gallery: In this interactive workshop we will critically examine issues of representation and agency in portraits of Black Americans from the museum’s collection.


Think Tank Academy: supports World Black History Month Day 2024 on Feb 16th by providing a free Equality and Diversity course.


Artful Explorers: Come create art with us! This event is an opportunity for you to explore your own creativity as inspired by our weekly topic and to join other artists and artist-want-to-bes in the exploration. (Sat, Feb 24, preregistration required)


Smithsonian Magazine: Highlights virtual Black History events from online exhibitions to panel discussions--more than a dozen events hosted by museums and other cultural institutions across the country.


National Geographic Kids: Black History Month continues the discussion of Black people and their contributions through activities such as museum exhibits and film screenings.


Kids Activities: A month’s worth of engaging and educational Black History Month activities for kids of all ages.

Carter G. Woodson

1875-1950


Father of Black History

TEACH and LEARN BLACK HISTORY IN ALL THESE AREAS ON

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A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture

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Marcus Garvey

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Correct Answers to Black History Month "How Much Do You Know?"


  1. African Americans and the Arts: In the fields of visual and performing arts, literature, fashion, folklore, language, film, music, architecture, culinary and other forms of cultural expression the African-American influence has been paramount.
  2. Carter Woodson's organization, now known as the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH), designates a theme each year.
  3. The week-long event officially became Black History Month in 1976 when U.S. president Gerald Ford extended the recognition to “honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of Black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history.”
  4. The precursor to Black History Month was created in 1926 in the United States, when historian Carter G. Woodson and the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (ASNLH) announced the second week of February to be "Negro History Week".

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