Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day: Remember! Celebrate! Act!
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day is recognized annually and always presents the theme — “Remember! Celebrate! Act!- A Day On, Not A Day Off!” On Dec. 1, 1955 Rosa Parks, a Black seamstress, was arrested in Montgomery, Alabama, for refusing to give up her seat in the designated “white” section on a public transportation bus. Her arrest sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott, during which the Black citizens of Montgomery refused to ride the city’s buses in protest over the bus system’s policy of racial segregation. Martin Luther King, Jr., a Baptist minister who endorsed nonviolent civil disobedience, emerged as leader of the Boycott. Successful resolution was achieved after 381 days when the Supreme Court ruled in Nov. 1956 that segregation on public buses was unconstitutional. The 2022 poster is a historical collection of imagery reflecting this critical moment in our nation’s past. (DOD graphic by the Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute)