WASHINGTON, D.C. — In what may one day eclipse the annual activities at the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change in Atlanta, events are being planned across Washington for the upcoming Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday. Jan. 16 marks the first King holiday where visitors can celebrate the legacy of the civil rights leader at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial since it was dedicated last fall. The National Park Service will lay a wreath at the site and offer educational programs throughout the day.

 

Washington National Cathedral will hold a special service that afternoon to celebrate King's legacy with a concert and day of service. King delivered his last Sunday sermon at the cathedral before his assassination in 1968.

The Smithsonian's Anacostia

Community Museum is planning a commemoration on Jan. 13. Harry Johnson, president of the King Memorial Foundation, will discuss the history of the national memorial honoring King.

Meanwhile, in Atlanta, one of the highlights of the annual program at the King Center in Atlanta, the annual “Salute to Greatness Awards Dinner,” to be held on Saturday, Jan. 14, will honor Reid Hoffman, co-founder and executive chairman of LinkedIn, and Sheila C. Johnson, vice chairman of Monumental Sports & Entertainment and president of the WNBA’s Washington Mystics.

Another highlight of the King Center MLK birthday observance, the Annual Commemorative Service on Monday, Jan. 16 — the King Holiday — will feature as keynote speaker one of America’s most dynamic orators, Dr. Frederick D. Haynes III, senior pastor of Friendship West Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas. Members of the King family and a host of elected officials and public figures will also participate in the service.

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