Today, Monday, Jan. 20, is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a day to celebrate King’s birthday and honor his legacy as leader of the civil rights movement.

The day, approved as a federal holiday in 1983, was the first federal holiday to honor an African American.

In 1963, King gave his famous speech, later known as “I Have a Dream,” before the Lincoln Memorial during a peaceful march on Washington. His speech, considered as one of the finest speeches in the history of American oratory, helped with the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The speech begins:

“I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

“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.”

King’s life was cut short at the age of 39 when he was assassinated on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tenn.

King was presented the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 in Oslo, Norway, for his leadership in the civil rights movement. He was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom and Congressional Gold Medal. The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial was dedicated in 2011 on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.