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The Conversation
The Conversation
Jason Oliver Evans, Research Associate and Lecturer, University of Virginia

MLK’s ‘beloved community’ has inspired social justice work for decades − what did he mean?

Volunteers paint columns in a hallway during the Martin Luther King Jr. National Day of Service at Ron Brown College Preparatory High School in Washington, D.C., in 2019. Katherine Frey/The Washington Post via Getty Images

Since 1983, when President Ronald Reagan signed Martin Luther King Jr. Day into law, many Americans have observed the federal holiday to commemorate the life and legacy of the civil rights leader, Baptist minister and theologian.

MLK Day volunteers typically perform community service that continues King’s fight to end racial discrimination and economic injustice – to build the “beloved community,” as he often said.

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