Martin Luther Jr King Holiday

2 days ago, is Martin Luther King's Holiday in US. I'm curious about him, so I decided to search about him. Here it is. ^^

Martin Luther King, Jr., born at January 15, 1929. He attended segregated public schools in Georgia, graduating from high school when he's 15 years old then received B. A. degree in 1948 from Morehouse College. In 1951 he was awarded the B.D. Then he enrolled in graduate studies at Boston University, completing his residence for the doctorate in 1953 and receiving the degree in 1955. In Boston he met and married Coretta Scott then she gave birth to two sons and two daughters were born into the family.

In 1954, Martin Luther King became pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. King was, by this time, a member of the executive committee of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Early in December, 1955, he's ready to accept the leadership of the first great Negro nonviolent demonstration of contemporary times in the United States. The bus boycott described by Gunnar Jahn in his presentation speech in honor of the laureate which lasted 382 days. On December 21, 1956, after the Supreme Court of the United States had declared unconstitutional the laws requiring segregation on buses, Negroes and whites rode the buses as equals.

In 1957 he was elected president of the organization formed to provide new leadership for the now burgeoning civil rights movement. The ideals for this organization he took from Christianity, while its operational techniques from Gandhi. Between 1957 and 1968, King traveled over six million miles and spoke over twenty-five hundred times, appearing wherever there was injustice, protest, and action, meanwhile he wrote five books as well as numerous articles. These years, he led a massive protest in Birmingham, Alabama, that caught the attention of the entire world, providing what he called a coalition of conscience. and inspiring his "Letter from a Birmingham Jail", a manifesto of the Negro revolution, he planned the drives in Alabama for the registration of Negroes as voters, he directed the peaceful march on Washington, D.C., of 250,000 people to whom he delivered his address, "l Have a Dream", he conferred with President John F. Kennedy and campaigned for President Lyndon B. Johnson, he was arrested upwards of twenty times and assaulted at least four times, he was awarded five honorary degrees, was named Man of the Year by Time magazine in 1963; and became not only the symbolic leader of American blacks but also a world figure.

At the age of thirty-five he was the youngest man to have received the Nobel Peace Prize and announced that he would turn over the prize money of $54,123 to the furtherance of the civil rights movement.

On the evening of April 4, 1968, while standing on the balcony of his motel room in Memphis, Tennessee, where he was to lead a protest march in sympathy with striking garbage workers of that city, he was assassinated. Observed for the first time on January 20, 1986, it is called Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Following President George H. W. Bush's 1992 proclamation, the holiday is observed on the third Monday of January each year, near the time of King's birthday. On January 17, 2000, for the first time, Martin Luther King Jr. Day was officially observed in all fifty U.S. states

Source: Wikipedia

The website

http://www.martinlutherking.org/

Hoppin John

Hoppin John is a common dish to eat for New Year. It is the Southern United States version of Africa's rice and beans traditional dish. It consists of black-eyed peas (or field peas) and rice, plus chopped onion and sliced bacon, flavored with salt. One common in the southern part of USA is that each person at the meal should leave three peas on their plate to assure that the New Year will be filled with Luck, Fortune and Romance. Another tradition says that counting the number of peas in a serving predicts the amount of luck/wealth that the diner will have in the coming year. On the day after New Year's Day, leftover "Hoppin' John" is called "Skippin' Jenny" and further demonstrates one's frugality, bringing a hope for an even better chance of prosperity in the New Year.

The Ingredients:

1 pound dried black-eyed peas, or cowpeas

6 to 8 ounces salt pork, diced

1 cup chopped onion

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 pound cooked ham, cubed

1 ham bone or large ham hock

black pepper, to taste

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

dash Tabasco sauce

How To
 
Pick over peas then rinse them. Cover the peas with cold water, then boil for around 1 minute then remove, and cover the pan. Let peas stand for 1 hour. When we're waiting, we sauté salt pork until golden brown, add onion and garlic, and sauté until onion is tender. Next, add the salt pork and onion mixture to the peas, along with the ham, ham bone or hock, and seasonings, then add enough water to cover. Bring them to a simmer, cover, and simmer gently until peas are tender but not mushed about 1 to 2 hours. Remove ham from bone, chop it , and return to peas. Taste for seasoning and adjust. Cook rice separately. Mound rice on a platter and surround them with peas.