Martin Luther King Jr. Day (Monday, Jan. 17) will be marked by an exhibition of Martin Luther King Jr.’s original address from the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC).
The speech’s exhibit, which was first on display in fall 2021, will be reinstalled just in time for people to see the historic document ahead of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday this year. From January 13 to February 27, it will be on display in the “Defending Freedom, Defining Freedom” gallery.
The museum will be open to the public for normal working hours over the holiday (10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.). Online, you can get advanced and same-day free timed-entry passes. There will be no walk-ups allowed. Other items related with King, such as the Congressional Gold Medal awarded posthumously to him and Coretta Scott King in 2014, a laundry pail used by King during the Selma to Montgomery march, and a program from his funeral at the Ebenezer Baptist Church, will be shown alongside the speech.
In addition to showcasing King’s speech, the museum offers two virtual offerings that allow visitors to commemorate the occasion from the comfort of their own homes, including a blog post detailing little-known facts about the civil rights leader.
For more information about the museum, visit nmaahc.si.edu.
