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Tuesday 17 January 2023

2648) Martin Luther King Jr. (USA), Barbados: A $2 (Two Dollars) Gold Coin remembers the legacy of the legendary Civil Rights leader who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964: Year of Coin issue: 2015:

2648) Martin Luther King Jr. (USA), Barbados: A $2 (Two Dollars) Gold Coin remembers the legacy of the legendary Civil Rights leader who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964: Year of Coin issue: 2015:

- On 28.08.1963 at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington DC, he delivered the iconic “I have a dream” speech. 

- One year later he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his tireless work of combating racial inequality through nonviolence.

- On 04.04.1968 on the second-floor balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Martin Luther was shot and killed by James Earl Ray.

- 16th January 2023 was Martin Luther King Day, every year in the United States of America!

More about Martin Luther King Jr.:

Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15.01.1929 – 04.04.1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist, one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968.

An African-American church leader and a son of early civil rights activist and minister Martin Luther King Sr., King advanced civil rights for people of colour in the United States through non-violence and civil disobedience. 

Inspired by his Christian beliefs and the non-violent activism of Mahatma Gandhi, he led targeted, non-violent resistance against Jim Crow laws and other forms of discrimination.

King participated in and led marches for the right to vote, desegregation, labour rights, and other civil rights. 

He oversaw the 1955 Montgomery bus boycott and later became the first president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC).

As president of the SCLC, he led the unsuccessful Albany Movement in Albany, Georgia, and helped organize some of the nonviolent 1963 protests in Birmingham, Alabama. 

King was one of the leaders of the 1963 March on Washington, where he delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

The civil rights movement achieved pivotal legislative gains in the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the Fair Housing Act of 1968.

The SCLC put into practice the tactics of nonviolent protest with some success by strategically choosing the methods and places in which protests were carried out. 

There were several dramatic standoffs with segregationist authorities, who sometimes turned violent. 

Several times King would be jailed

Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) director J. Edgar Hoover considered King a radical and made him an object of the FBI's COINTELPRO from 1963 forward

FBI agents investigated him for possible communist ties, spied on his personal life, and secretly recorded him. 

The FBI in 1964 mailed King a threatening anonymous letter, which he interpreted as an attempt to make him commit suicide.

On 14.10.1964, King won the Nobel Peace Prize for combating racial inequality through nonviolent resistance

In 1965, he helped organise two of the three Selma to Montgomery marches.

 In his final years, he expanded his focus to include opposition towards poverty, capitalism, and the Vietnam War. 

In 1968, King was planning a national occupation of Washington, D.C., to be called the Poor People's Campaign, when he was assassinated on April 4 in Memphis, Tennessee. 

His death was followed by national mourning, as well as anger leading to riots in many U.S. cities. 

King was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977 and the Congressional Gold Medal in 2003.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day was established as a holiday in cities and states throughout the United States beginning in 1971; the holiday was enacted at the federal level by legislation signed by President Ronald Reagan in 1986.

Hundreds of streets in the U.S. have been renamed in his honour, and the most populous county in Washington State was rededicated for him. 

The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., was dedicated in 2011.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day (officially Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr., and sometimes referred to as MLK Day) is a federal holiday in the United States marking the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. 

It is observed on the third Monday of January each year

Born in 1929, King's actual birthday is January 15 (which in 1929 fell on a Tuesday).

The holiday is similar to holidays set under the Uniform Monday Holiday Act. The earliest Monday for this holiday is January 15 and the latest is January 21.

 At first, some states resisted observing the holiday as such, giving it alternative names or combining it with other holidays. It was officially observed in all 50 states for the first time in 2000.

The Coin:

The Mint of Norway struck an extremely limited mintage, designating this coin as rare and making it a true collector’s item. 

On the Reverse of the $2 (Two Dollars) Gold Coin is seen a right facing effigy of Martin Luther King Jr.

The distinct design and historic significance of Martin Luther King Jr’s legacy celebrates the life of the Nobel Laureate and leader of the Civil Rights movement.

The peripheral inscriptions read - "MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. NOBEL PEACE PRIZE WINNER 1964".

The Obverse of the $2 (Two Dollars) Gold Coin depicts the Coat of Arms of Barbados, the issuing country. The year of issue "2015" flanks the Coat of Arms on either centre.

The specifications of this Gold Coin are:

Country of issue: Barbados; Year: 2015; Coin Theme: "Martin Luther King Jr. - Nobel Prize Winner - 1964"; Metal Composition: .9999 Fineness Gold (Au); Weight: 1.00 Oz or 31.1 grams; Minted By: Mint of Norway; Mintage: 52 pieces.









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