LIVE: DC parade celebrates iconic civil rights chief Martin Luther King Jr.

WASHINGTON (NewsNation Now) – Congregations across the country celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday and commemorate the legendary civil rights activist days after his birthday.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, many events have been changed, including the 40th annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., which usually takes place in DC. It’s now practically at 12 noon EST.

  • Black American civil rights activist Martin Luther King (1929-1968) speaks to crowds during March On Washington at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC, where he delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech. (Photo by Central Press / Getty Images)
  • Over 200,000 people gather around the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC, where the March on Washington for Work and Freedom ended with Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. (Photo by Kurt Severin / Three Lions / Hulton Archives / Getty Images)
  • March 1965: American civil rights activist Martin Luther King (1929-1968) and his wife Coretta Scott King lead a black voting march from Selma, Alabama, to the state capital of Montgomery. These include the politician and civil rights activist John Lewis (1940-2020), Reverend Ralph Abernathy (1926-1990), Ruth Harris Bunche (1906-1988), the Nobel Prize-winning political scientist and diplomat Ralph Bunche (1904-1971), Activist Hosea Williams (1926-2000). (Photo by William Lovelace / Express / Getty Images)
  • March 1965: Civil rights activist Dr. Martin Luther King (1929-1968) with his wife Coretta Scott King on a black suffrage march from Selma, Alabama, to the state capital of Montgomery. (Photo by William Lovelace / Express / Getty Images)
  • At the start of the Birmingham Campaign in May 1963, African Americans marched on the corner of 16th Street and 5th Avenue in Birmingham, Alabama. The movement that called for the integration of African Americans into schools was organized by Martin Luther King Jr. and Fred Shuttlesworth among others. (Photo by Frank Rockstroh / Michael Ochs Archive / Getty Images)
  • Civil rights activists Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968, left) and Fred Shuttlesworth (1922-2011, right) rally at a church in Birmingham, Alabama on October 14, 1963. (Photo: Frank Rockstroh / Michael Ochs Archives / Getty Images)
  • August 28, 1963: American President John F. Kennedy in the White House with the leaders of the Civil Rights March in Washington (left to right) Dr. Martin Luther King (1929-1968), John Lewis, Rabbi Joachim Prinz, A. Philip Randolph, President Kennedy, Walter Reuther (1907-1970) and Roy Wilkins. Vice President Lyndon Johnson is behind Reuther. (Photo by Three Lions / Hulton Archive / Getty Images)
  • OSLO, NORWAY: Coretta Scott King and her husband Martin Luther King on December 9, 1964 in Oslo, where the US clergyman and civil rights activist received the Nobel Peace Prize on December 10. Martin Luther King was murdered on April 4, 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee. James Earl Ray confessed to shooting King and was sentenced to 99 years in prison. King’s murder shocked American society at the time and is still considered a landmark in recent US history. (Photo credit should read AFP via Getty Images)
  • (FILES) During his funeral on April 9, 1968 in Atlanta, two mules pull a cart containing the coffin of US clergyman, leader of the Anti-Racial Movement and Nobel Peace Prize winner Martin Luther King. Martin Luther King was murdered on April 4, 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee. James Earl Ray confessed to shooting King and was sentenced to 99 years in prison. King’s murder shocked American society at the time and is still considered a landmark in recent US history. (Photo by – / AFP FILES / AFP) (Photo credit should read – / AFP via Getty Images)
  • April 9, 1968: Cleric and civil rights activist Ralph Abernathy (1926-1990) presides over the funeral of murdered civil rights leader Martin Luther King (1929-1968) at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia. The king’s widow, Coretta Scott King, sits in the front row with her children near his coffin. (Photo by Keystone / Getty Images)
  • The screenshot shows American civil rights activist Coretta Scott King (1927-2006) at the televised funeral of her husband, civil rights and religious leader Martin Luther King Jr., which took place at Ebenezer Church on the campus of Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia. took place, April 9, 1968. King was murdered 5 days earlier on April 4. (Photo by CBS Photo Archive / Getty Images)
  • After the April 1968 assassination of civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr., the army was called to 14th Street in Columbia Heights during the riot in Washington, DC. In the background the Tivoli Theater. (Photo by Michael Ochs Archives / Getty Images)

President-elect Joe Biden and Vice-President-elect Kamala Harris, like many others, will become Dr. Honor King by volunteering on Monday. The Presidential Inaugural Committee hosts two events. The first is a National Day of Service, followed by an hour-long celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

President Donald Trump has not yet planned any public events.

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. would have celebrated his 92nd birthday on Friday if he hadn’t been murdered in 1968.

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