Martin Luther King Jr. Day, which this year falls on Jan. 21, is a federal holiday that marks the birthday (Jan. 15, 1929) of one of the United States' most-revered civil rights leaders.
After King was killed in 1968 while standing on the second-floor balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, his pursuit of social justice and human rights fell upon the shoulders of his wife, Coretta Scott King. For the next 38 years until her death in 2006, it was up to Coretta to carry on her husband's legacy.
By the time of the first official Martin Luther King holiday in January 1986, Coretta had received 29 honorary degrees from American universities, and in May of that year she flew across the Pacific and traveled to Seinan Gakuin University in Fukuoka to speak at an event marking the school's 70th Founder's Day. SGU had attempted to connect with the King family around 20 years prior, when then-Chancellor W. Maxfield Garrott invited Dr. King to visit the Baptist college. For Coretta, it was Chancellor Charles L. Whaley who invited her, stating that "Mrs. King has long contributed to improving society through nonviolence to gain human rights, freedom and peace — based on Christianity."