Today in history

January 16
Happy Martin Luther King Day!

Since 1986, the first Monday of January has been designated a federal holiday honoring civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

In 1955 Dr. King organized the first major protest of the civil rights movement: the successful Montgomery Bus Boycott. Influenced by Mohandas Gandhi, he advocated nonviolent civil disobedience to end racial segregation. The peaceful protests he led throughout the American South were often met with violence, but King and his followers persisted and the movement gained momentum.

MLK Day timeline
April 4, 1968 Dr. King was assassinated. U.S. Representative John Conyers of Michigan introduced legislation to create a federal holiday to commemorate Dr. King.
1973 Illinois became the first state to adopt MLK Day as a state holiday.
1985 U.S. officially observes Martin Luther King Day for the first time.
January 20, 1986 The United States observed the first federal MLK Day.
January 18, 1993 Martin Luther King Day holiday was observed in all 50 states for the first time.

Other historical events on this date:
1952
Senator James Eastland introduces resolution to declare a “state of emergency” in the U.S. Allows Congress to invoke a McCarran Internal Security Act provision under which American Communists could be rounded up & jailed in concentration camps.
1966
Folk singer Joan Baez is jailed for 10 days for participating in a protest which blocked the entrance to the Armed Forces Induction Center in Oakland, California to protest U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War.

1969
Jan Palach immolates himself to protest Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia.

1979
Faced with violent demonstrations and an army mutiny against his repressive rule, Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, leader of Iran since 1941, is forced to flee the country.

Historical note: In the early 1950s the Shah was forced to recognize popular nationalist Mohammad Mosaddeq who had been elected prime minister. Mosaddeg wanted to nationalize the oil resources for the Iranian people. As a result, he was overthrown in 1953 by a CIA sponsored coup and the Shah was reinstated.
Shortly after the Shah fled in 1979, Islamic fundamentalists took over, installed the
Ayatollah Khomeni and eventually took the U.S. embassy hostage for 444 days