It's the Brian Laird Show here on WNYC.

I'm Tiffany Hanson, filling in for Brian today.

Good morning, everybody.

Well, today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

It's a federal holiday as designated by Congress and signed into law by President Reagan in 1983.

Depending on how you count the holidays, it's not the only one to celebrate our right to protest. We have Labor Day, Independence Day. That could also be seen that way.

But Reverend King was an activist leading nonviolent protests up until his assassination in

1968. And given the protests that are underway here in this country and around the world,

we thought it would be a good time to talk about the history and the tradition that Dr. King was a part of.

We are joined by Emmy Award-winning writer, Gloria J. Brown Marshall, a civil rights attorney,

a professor of constitutional law at John J. College, and an author of the book, A Protest History

of the United States. Welcome back to the show, Professor. Thank you. And listeners, of course,

we want you in this conversation as well.

You can text us.

It is Martin Luther, and call us, by the way, it is Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Do you have a story you'd like to share about how Dr. King's life and legacy inspired you to protest?

Do you draw inspiration from the civil rights protests that he led?

What forms of protest do your protests take?

Call us, text us 212433-9692.

Okay, Gloria, I think we should probably start with Dr. King on this day.

We have a clip here from, it's a passage from his final speech

that you reference in the introduction

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