Today, we honor the memory of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and remember his incredible legacy of championing civil rights, faith, justice, and freedom. During the time of segregation, Dr. King earned his doctorate in systematic theology and became a pastor, which fueled his activism for civil rights. His convicting sermons and piercing speeches catapulted him to the forefront of the civil rights movement during the mid-twentieth century.

During the years of Dr. King's activism, he spoke over twenty-five hundred times and wrote five books and numerous articles. He led the March on Washington in 1963 and delivered his famous "l Have a Dream" speech to a crowd of 250,000 people on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

The values Dr. King fought for throughout his life are deeply ingrained within the Republican Party. In 1854, the Republican Party emerged as the "anti-slavery party." It was Republican President Abraham Lincoln who issued the Emancipation Proclamation, and it was Lincoln and his Party who passed the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery. Furthermore, it was the Republican Party that passed the 14th Amendment, granting citizenship to African Americans, and the 15th Amendment, which gave African American men the right to vote.

Today and always, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s renowned words speak to the heart of the Republican Party, "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."