Martin Luther King Jr. Day Honors Civil Rights Legacy and Historic 1968 Ohio Northern University Speech

Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day in honor and recognition of the slain civil rights leader.

It became a federal holiday in the United States in 1983 when President Ronald Reagan signed the bill, with the first official federal observance in 1986.

Dr. King was an American civil rights activist and Baptist minister who was a leader of the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in April 1968.

Just three months before he was assassinated, Dr. King spoke at Ohio Northern University in Ada.

On January 11, 1968, classes ended at 10 a.m. to allow for students to attend the speech.

It is estimated that approximately 4,500 people listened to King that day, 2,500 in Taft and another 2,000 in Lehr Auditorium where the audio from Taft was carried live.

A statue honoring Martin Luther King Jr. now sits on the Ohio Northern University campus in Ada. The statue recognizes Dr. King’s visit and speech at ONU on January 11, 1968 and it was officially unveiled on April 17, 2018.

You can listen to the speech and read the transcript at onu.edu/mlk.