Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, 2009

What an interesting year to reflect on the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.! In this year, the people of the United Stated elected the first black President. Many people are considering that Barack Obama is the fulfillment of the dream that King announced in his landmark speech. That may be expecting too much of the election results -- while Obama's Presidency is certainly exciting, there are still many steps to fulfill King's dream that

... my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of “interposition” and “nullification” — one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

Amazing progress has actually been made -- if you consider how slowly cultural change usually happens. But so much more needs to be done. We cannot honestly say we live in a nation where people are judged by character and not skin color, and where black children and white children truly join hands as sisters and brothers, in Alabama or Massachusetts. And yet, how hopefully we move toward Tuesday, and inauguration of our first President of color. What joy would Dr. King feel were he alive to see this day?

I was amazed to stumble upon a lovely collection of photographs from the civil right movement and the last days of Dr. King's life, courtesy of Time Magazine's website. Click on the title to this post to visit the website and see the collections of photographs. Newsmagazines have treasures that they sometimes put out to share! Thank you, Time! The image above is from this website, by Paul Schutzer / Time Life Pictures / Getty, at http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1872501,00.html