The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., born on January 15, 1929, is one of many selfless Americans who sacrificed his life to better the lives of African American victims of segregationist Jim Crow laws, racism, discrimination, the denial of employment, education and basic human dignity. In 1955 Dr. King took a leadership role and organized a nonviolent, 382-day bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama. This landmark event commonly referenced in American history as the catalyst of the U.S. Civil Rights Movement, 1955 to 1965, was a demonstration in social protest and civil disobedience. The boycott helped to end segregated busing by way of the 1956 Supreme Court decision which declared segregated buses as unconstitutional. This event also captured worldwide attention and catapulted Dr. King to a plateau which enabled him to help counter the effects of discrimination in southern U.S. states through the disciplined teaching and practice of nonviolent disobedience.  
  
Dr. King accomplished a number of phenomenal feats in a brief period of time. Dr. King worked to organize the registration of African American voters in Alabama, fifty-one years ago in 1963 he delivered the famous "I Have a Dream" speech to over a quarter of a million in attendance at the march on Washington, D.C., and in that same year was named Man of the Year by Time magazine. Dr. King received the Nobel Peace Prize and invested the award money into the Civil Rights Movement.   
  
At the age of thirty-nine, Dr. King's last public speech was on April 3, 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee where he traveled, by invitation, to lead a protest for city sanitation workers. In this last speech Dr. King referenced the First Amendment to the United States Constitution and stressed its protection of the freedoms of assembly, speech, and press; and, stated "the greatness of America is the right to protest for rights." The following evening on April 4, 1968, Dr. King was brutally assassinated and the Country suffered a great loss.  
  
In January 1983 President Ronald Reagan signed into law the national Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday to recognize Dr. King's invaluable contributions to the United States. In 1994 Congress designated Dr. King's holiday as a national Day of Service which calls Americans to work together within their community by volunteering their time and service to the betterment of our nation.   
  
In celebration of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors recognize Dr. King and the great legacy he has left our County, the United States of America, and the world of people who choose the power of nonviolence to pursue freedom, equality and justice for all.  
  

PRESENTED the 2014 Student Humanitarian Award to Anand Kannappan. PRESENTED the 2014 Humanitarian Award to Sister Ann Weltz.