Martin Luther King Day was first officially celebrated in the United States in 1986.
King helped to lead the Montgomery Bus Boycott in Montgomery, Alabama, which was a protest against the racial segregation of the city's buses. The boycott lasted for over a year, from December 1, 1955 to December 20, 1956.
The MLK Memorial opened in Washington D.C. on August 22, 2011
Martin Luther King supported non-violent protest because he believed in the power of peaceful resistance to bring about change. He was inspired by the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi and the civil rights movement in India, and believed that non-violent protests were the best way to challenge the unjust system of racial segregation and discrimination in the United States.
Non-violent protests are effective because they can bring attention to the issue at hand, generate public sympathy for the cause, and create pressure on the government and society to make changes. Non-violent protests also avoid the potential escalation of violence that can come with more confrontational methods of protest. They allow the message to be heard and focused on, rather than the violence that can come with it, which makes it easier for the people to understand the cause and join it.