Monday, January 16 marks the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr this year.

It is a federal holiday in the United States that takes place on the third Monday in January. It honors the life and legacy of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. Sunday would have been King’s 94th birthday. He was assassinated in 1968 at the age of 39 in Memphis, Tennessee.

MLK Day was first signed into law by President Ronald Reagan in 1983 and it was first observed on January 20, 1986. The first time all states observed it was in 2000. “America is a more democratic nation, a more just nation, a more peaceful nation because Martin Luther King Jr became her pre-eminent non-violent commander,” Reagan said in 1983.

King Jr became synonymous with his now-eternal “I Have a Dream” speech, delivered on August 28, 1963, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. See the video of his full speech below:

In the speech, MLK Jr. talked about the anti-Black, racist struggles facing Black Americans in the communities. Black people earned far less than white people, and King wanted to highlight that.

“I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal,” he said. “I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.”

“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today,” he added. “I have a dream that one day down in Alabama with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, one day right down in Alabama little Black boys and Black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers. I have a dream today. I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.”