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\nMany of us take a day off from work or classes on the third Monday in January to honor the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., but have you also considered taking a day on to serve your community? This day has been designated a U.S. federal holiday<\/a> since 1983, and since 1994 it has also been designated a national day of service<\/a>.<\/p>\n The MLK Day of Service provides an opportunity for all Americans to help bring Dr. King\u2019s vision of a \u201cBeloved Community\u201d a little closer to reality by engaging in action that helps solve social problems, working against the triple evils of poverty, racism, and militarism to create a society where all people can share in the wealth of the earth, and conflicts are resolved peacefully through a mutual commitment to\u00a0King\u2019s principles, philosophy, and techniques of nonviolence<\/a>.<\/p>\n More information about Dr. King and his philosophy can be found at\u00a0The King Center for Nonviolent Social Change<\/a>. Shortly after Dr. King\u2019s assassination, his widow Coretta Scott King established this nongovernmental, nonprofit organization to provide research, education, and training in King\u2019s principles, philosophy, and techniques of\u00a0nonviolence<\/a>. The Center champions the causes of freedom, justice, and equality by working to eliminate poverty, build community, and foster peace.\u00a0<\/p>\n Other resources, including a large collection of online documents, are available at Stanford University’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute<\/a>.<\/p>\n “The Fifteen-Year Battle for Martin Luther King Jr. Day<\/a>” is a detailed account of how this federal holiday came to be, provided by the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History & Culture<\/a>.<\/p>\n Service to your community doesn\u2019t have to be limited to one day a year! Learn more about ways you can become active in your national, state, and local community at the\u00a0UNT Libraries Civic Engagement Portal<\/a>.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s each take some time on this special day to make a contribution to our community, keeping in mind these immortal words of Dr. King:<\/p>\n “Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or the darkness of destructive selfishness. Life\u2019s most persistent and urgent question is what are you doing for others?”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Source of image at top of page: Highsmith, Carol M, photographer. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial, Washington, D.C<\/cite>. United States Washington D.C. Washington D.C. District of Columbia, 2011. November. Photograph. https:\/\/www.loc.gov\/item\/2013650720\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n Article by Bobby Griffith<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Many of us take a day off from work or classes on the third Monday in January to honor the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., but have you also considered taking a day on to serve your community? This day has been designated a U.S. federal holiday since 1983, and since… Read more »<\/a>","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,11,12],"tags":[347,346,345,344],"class_list":["post-3196","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-doings","category-make-a-difference","category-special-days","tag-day-of-service","tag-martin-luther-king-jr","tag-mlk","tag-mlk-jr-day"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/sycamore-stacks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3196","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/sycamore-stacks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/sycamore-stacks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/sycamore-stacks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/sycamore-stacks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3196"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/sycamore-stacks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3196\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3214,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/sycamore-stacks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3196\/revisions\/3214"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/sycamore-stacks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/sycamore-stacks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/sycamore-stacks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}How You Can Be Involved<\/h2>\n
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Learn More About Martin Luther King, Jr.<\/h2>\n
Other Ways You Can Make a Difference<\/h2>\n
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![Remaining Awake Through a Great Transformation<\/a>.\u201d<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\nLearn More About Martin Luther King, Jr.<\/h2>\nMore information about Dr. King and his philosophy can be found at\u00a0The King Center for Nonviolent Social Change<\/a>. Shortly after Dr. King\u2019s assassination, his widow Coretta Scott King established this nongovernmental, nonprofit organization to provide research, education, and training in King\u2019s principles, philosophy, and techniques of\u00a0nonviolence<\/a>. The Center champions the causes of freedom, justice, and equality by working to eliminate poverty, build community, and foster peace.\u00a0<\/p>\nOther resources, including a large collection of online documents, are available at Stanford University’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute<\/a>.<\/p>\n“The Fifteen-Year Battle for Martin Luther King Jr. Day<\/a>” is a detailed account of how this federal holiday came to be, provided by the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History & Culture<\/a>.<\/p>\nOther Ways You Can Make a Difference<\/h2>\nService to your community doesn\u2019t have to be limited to one day a year! Learn more about ways you can become active in your national, state, and local community at the\u00a0UNT Libraries Civic Engagement Portal<\/a>.<\/p>\nLet\u2019s each take some time on this special day to make a contribution to our community, keeping in mind these immortal words of Dr. King:<\/p>\n\n“Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or the darkness of destructive selfishness. Life\u2019s most persistent and urgent question is what are you doing for others?”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\nSource of image at top of page: Highsmith, Carol M, photographer. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial, Washington, D.C<\/cite>. United States Washington D.C. Washington D.C. District of Columbia, 2011. November. Photograph. https:\/\/www.loc.gov\/item\/2013650720\/<\/a>.<\/p>\nArticle by Bobby Griffith<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Many of us take a day off from work or classes on the third Monday in January to honor the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., but have you also considered taking a day on to serve your community? This day has been designated a U.S. federal holiday since 1983, and since… Read more »<\/a>","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,11,12],"tags":[347,346,345,344],"class_list":["post-3196","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-doings","category-make-a-difference","category-special-days","tag-day-of-service","tag-martin-luther-king-jr","tag-mlk","tag-mlk-jr-day"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/sycamore-stacks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3196","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/sycamore-stacks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/sycamore-stacks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/sycamore-stacks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/sycamore-stacks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3196"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/sycamore-stacks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3196\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3214,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/sycamore-stacks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3196\/revisions\/3214"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/sycamore-stacks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/sycamore-stacks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/sycamore-stacks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dallasmlkcenter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/2026-MLK-Week-Schedule_w_sponsors_1.8.26_Page_1.jpg\"){kind=link}