CRMC staff will be available throughout the day to discuss the civil rights leader’s legacy and provide informal, educational tours. The Center will also broadcast three of King’s most famous speeches on a rotating basis outside at the Civil Rights Memorial.

Created by the Vietnam Veterans Memorial designer Maya Lin, the Civil Rights Memorial chronicles the history of the modern civil rights movement and records the names of civil rights martyrs from 1954 through 1968. It also bears a quote from King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. The CRMC houses exhibits about the civil rights martyrs, screens the documentary Faces in the Water throughout the day and features the Wall of Tolerance, where visitors can pledge – like King – to “take a stand against hate, injustice and intolerance.”

Martin Luther King Jr. Day was signed into law by President Ronald Reagan in 1983 to honor King’s advocacy of nonviolent activism and his crucial impact on the American pursuit of civil rights for all people.