UNCW will be celebrating the King Holiday by holding its annual Martin Luther King commemoration on Thurs., Jan. 23 at 7 p.m. in Kenan Auditorium.

Jan. 15, 2003 marks slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr’s 74th birthday.

15 years after King’s assassination in Memphis, Tennessee, April 4, 1968, President Ronald Reagan signed a bill designating the third Monday in January as a national holiday in honor of the life and legacy of King. The bill was signed into law on Nov. 2, 1983. The first national observation of the holiday occurred on Jan. 20, 1986.

Despite early opposition from states such as Arizona refusing to observe the holiday, Martin Luther King Jr. day is now recognized as a national holiday.

Jim McGowan, a philosophy professor at UNCW, encourages his students to read one of King’s famous letters entitled “Letter from a Birmingham jail” to commemorate the holiday.

“Martin Luther King Jr. day is a holiday meant for peace and remembrance,” said Jennifer Turner, a UNCW freshman.

Celebrations designed to honor King’s memory were held in Wilmington on and before the King Holiday, including parades, festivals and banquets.

This year’s speaker will be noted civil rights leader Benjamin Hooks. Hooks is an ordained Baptist minister, former attorney and recipient of the Springarn medal – the highest honor awarded by the NAACP. The King commemoration is sponsored by the UNCW office of campus diversity. Admission is free to the public.

“Make sure you celebrate,” said history professor Andrew Clark.