Celebrations of his life are already taking place throughout the country – including here on the South Shore – ahead of the holiday in his name that did not become federally observed until 1986, nearly 20 years after his 1968 assassination. Martin Luther King Jr. Day wasn't recognized as an official holiday until 2000.

Martin Luther King Jr., the Atlanta native who became one of the most important figures in the civil rights movement, helped unite a divided nation.