Google Doodle For January 17, 2017

Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2017

Today we celebrate the work and life of Martin Luther King Jr.

King was born in Atlanta in 1929. He began his pastoral career in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1954, a year before Rosa Parks famously refused to give up her seat. Montgomery's community leaders chose King to organize the resulting bus boycott. From then on, his was the most powerful and lyrical voice in the effort to end segregation in the United States. King's message of nonviolence and love -- delivered in magnificent speeches and masterful writing -- shaped the American civil rights movement and inspired activists worldwide. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964.

Today's Doodle, by guest artist Keith Mallett, captures one of the major themes of King's speeches and writing: unity. "All life is interrelated," he said. "We are all made to live together." King urged Americans of all races to keep "working toward a world of brotherhood, cooperation, and peace."  

Martin Luther King Jr. may seem like the sort of leader who comes along only once every century or so, but King himself would disagree with that notion. He taught that we are all capable of lighting the way to "the bright daybreak of freedom and justice," and that we can unite to show that "love is the most durable power in the world."