For the first time since its inception, the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Service will feature a Hispanic speaker, the Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference. Elder Bernice King called Rodriguez "an electrifying orator. . .He is one of the most dynamic and inspiring proponents of the social gospel in the spirit of Martin Luther King Jr."

Rodriguez will speak at 8 a.m. on Monday, Jan. 21 at the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church, preceeding the inauguration of President Barack Obama in Washington.

(ATLANTA) — Commemorative events for the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. slid seamlessly into celebrations of the swearing-in Monday of the nation’s first black president, with many Americans moved by the reminder of how far the country has come since the 1960s.

“This is the dream that Dr. King talked about in his speech. We see history in the making,” said Joyce Oliver, who observed King Day by visiting the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tenn., built on the site of the old Lorraine Motel, where King was assassinated in 1968.

The youngest daughter of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. hailed the inauguration of the nation's first black president to a new term as one of the achievements made possible by the civil rights struggle her father helped lead decades ago.

Bernice King spoke at an Atlanta service Monday on the federal King holiday, urging Americans to draw inspiration from her slain father's nonviolent campaign after a difficult year of military conflicts abroad and natural disasters at home.

Pastor Rodriguez is the first Hispanic to give keynote address at Martin Luther King's old church on his birthday.

ATLANTA -- In a passionate sermon Monday at Martin Luther King Jr.'s old church, one of the nation's most influential Hispanic evangelical leaders exhorted Americans to pursue the civil rights martyr's goals of a just society -- not through political means, but through the church.

The Rev. Samuel Rodriguez will be the first Latino leader to serve as the keynote speaker for for the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Annual Commemorative Service.

(Reuters) - America's concern over gun violence became the focus of speeches in Atlanta on Monday honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who led a non-violent struggle for civil rights before he was gunned down at age 39.

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Not everyone gets invited to participate in a Presidential inauguration, and then turns it down, but Reverend Samuel Rodriguez did.

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