Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day
2026-01-20 | City of Miami (Historic Negro) Black Police Museum, 480 NW 11th Stree, Miami, FL, 33136, United States
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Did you know…Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. made frequent trips to Miami throughout his life, and even delivered an early version of his famous “I Have a Dream” speech at the Hampton House in 1960?

On November 2, 1983, President Ronald Reagan signed the King Holiday Bill into law, designating the third Monday in January a federal holiday in observance of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The legislation to recognize Martin Luther King Jr. Day was first introduced just four days after his assassination on April 4, 1968. Still, it would take 15 years of persistence by civil rights activists for the holiday to be approved by the federal government and an additional 17 years for it to be recognized in all 50 states. Today, it is the only federal holiday designated as a national day of service to encourage all Americans to volunteer and improve their communities.

In 1977, Miami became the first city in the United States to organize a Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Parade. The parade, which has been taking place for over 40 years occurs along Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd in Liberty City.

Image: Float representing the city of Opa-Locka parades down Martin Luther King Boulevard on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, January 19, 1987. Joe Raedle, photographer. Courtesy of HistoryMiami Museum.

Rosa Park's Birthday
2026-02-04 | FL
Rosa Louise McCauley Parks (February 4, 1913 – October 24, 2005)

Rosa Parks was an American activist in the civil rights movement best known for her pivotal role in the Montgomery Bus Boycott. The United States Congress has called her “the first lady of civil rights” and “the mother of the freedom movement”.

On December 1, 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, Parks rejected bus driver James F. Blake’s order to relinquish her seat in the “colored section” to a white passenger, after the whites-only section was filled. Parks was not the first person to resist bus segregation, but the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) believed that she was the best candidate for seeing through a court challenge after her arrest for civil disobedience in violating Alabama segregation laws. Parks’ prominence in the community and her willingness to become a controversial figure inspired the Black community to boycott the Montgomery buses for over a year, the first major direct action campaign of the post-war civil rights movement. This year-long boycott resulted in the desegregation of buses in Montgomery, Alabama on December 20, 1956. Rosa Parks remained a civil rights activist until her passing. When she passed away in 2005, she became the first female American who was not an elected official to lie in honor in the rotunda of the U.S. Capitol.
Image: Rosa Parks in a beauty salon in Miami, 1986. Courtesy of the Library of Congress
