'One of the World's Great Heroes': Trump Administration Remembers Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Many Americans are celebrating the life, faith, and work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Monday.
The American Baptist minister, civil rights activist, and Nobel Laureate would have turned 89 years old today, but his fight for equality and "work for peace, social justice, and opportunity for all Americans" is a message that is living beyond his lifetime.
President Donald Trump honored his life by signing the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Park Act of 2017.
The bill will turn King's birth home, Ebenezer Baptist Church and burial site from national historic sites to a national historic park.
"I was there on Air Force One, and I was there when the president signed the bill in honor of Martin Luther King Jr., my uncle, making that historic site here in Atlanta, Georgia, where I live, a national park," evangelist Dr. Alveda King told CBN News.
It will be the first historical park in Georgia.
Today, it was my great honor to proclaim January 15, 2018, as Martin Luther King Jr., Federal Holiday. I encourage all Americans to observe this day with appropriate civic, community, and service activities in honor of Dr. King's life and legacy. pic.twitter.com/samlJsz1Nt
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 12, 2018
Meanwhile, Vice President Mike Pence and his wife, Karen, honored King Sunday by laying a wreath at the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial in Washington, D.C.
Honored to lay a wreath at MLK Jr. Memorial w/ @SecondLady. He was a great American leader who inspired a movement & transformed a Nation. He took the words of our Founders to heart to forge a more perfect union based on the notion all men are created equal & in the image of God. pic.twitter.com/SvhHgSU2Ja
— Vice President Mike Pence (@VP) January 14, 2018
Pence also tweeted that King was a great American leader who inspired a movement and transformed a nation.
Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson is celebrating the life and legacy of Dr. King in Atlanta, the birthplace of the civil rights leader.
We will not remember Dr. King's death as an ending, but as a beginning… As a moment when he was called to new life with his Creator, before whom all men shall one day stand in equal rank, bearing with them no riches but the content of their character https://t.co/WuJM60eLLg
— Ben Carson (@SecretaryCarson) January 12, 2018
Ivanka Trump also tweeted about Martin Luther King Jr.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was one of the world's great heroes. Today we honor his profound life and legacy. #MLKDay https://t.co/VIXfTpGXT4 pic.twitter.com/5n0dJKXJ94
— Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) January 15, 2018
Meanwhile, several southern states have unveiled the U.S. Civil Rights Trail during the MLK holiday weekend.
Fourteen states stretching from Kansas to Delaware are promoting and highlighting 130 sites linked to the civil rights movement.
Sites on the trail include churches, courthouses, schools, businesses and other places that were key battlegrounds during the fight for equal rights.
For example, Alabama's Capitol building is one of those sites.
In 1861, the delegates met at the building to form the Confederate States of America.
In 1965, King spoke outside the building at the voting rights march from Selma to Montgomery.
