US Honors Slain Civil Rights Hero MLK

People march south on Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. in Daytona Beach Monday during one of many events. (N-J | JIm Tiller)

Posted Sunday, January 15th, 2012 at 9:00 pm

on Voice of America

Americans are honoring the memory of civil rights icon Martin Luther King, 44 years after he was assassinated.

Martin Luther King Day, on Monday, is an annual federal holiday marking the birthday of King, who fought discrimination and racism in the 1950s and 1960s. King would have been 83 years old this year.

New this year is the towering monument to the Baptist preacher and activist on the National Mall in Washington, DC.

President Barack Obama — the U.S. President Barack Obama speaks during a day of service to honor Martin Luther King, Jr, at the Browne Education Campus school in Washington, January 16, 2012. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS)nation's first black president — spoke at a ceremony for the new memorial in October, declaring that the United States must follow King's example by continuing to strive and struggle for a better country

Mr. Obama said King “stirred our conscience” through his campaign for racial equality.

King was assassinated on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee.

He gained prominence after leading a successful protest against segregation on the buses in Montgomery, Alabama. Under that system, blacks were required to sit in the back of the bus and, if the vehicle was full, they had to give their seats to white people.

The landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964 made segregation illegal. King, an advocate for non-violent protests, won the Nobel Peace Prize the same year.

Alicia Keys at the MLK Monument