It’s the day much of the nation takes time to consider the legacy of the great civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. There’s a plethora of ways to celebrate, from parades in Tampa and St. Petersburg, to a 5K run in Clearwater, to a day of service in Plant City. For more info, check out this list from WFLA Channel 8. 

But to truly remind yourself of why we honor MLK, take a moment to read, in full, the text of two of his most famous speeches: the “I Have a Dream” speech at the March on Washington in 1963, and the “Mountaintop” speech in 1968 that he delivered the night before he was assassinated.

Read them in full (especially since the words are so often taken out of context) to appreciate the eloquence of his rhetoric, the clarity of his logic and the urgency  — the “fierce urgency of now” — that powers his message. Then take a moment to consider how far we have come since he spoke those words — and how far we still have to go.