SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) – The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, Illinois will celebrate Martin Luther King Jr.’s 90th birthday anniversary Monday.
Actor Reggie Guyton will read King’s “I Have a Dream” speech at 10:30 a.m. and 12:45 p.m. in the museum’s main plaza.
King originally delivered the oration at the Lincoln Memorial during the 1963 civil rights March on Washington. He praised Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation as “a great beacon light of hope” but lamented that blacks were still chained by segregation and discrimination.
The library and museum celebrate King’s birthday each year by allowing free admission to community service nonprofits who register in advance.
Music will be provided by The Four Sopranos at 1 p.m. and interpreters will portray Frederick Douglass and Sojourner Truth from noon to 3:30 p.m.
