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In the East Room of the White House, the same room King watched President Lyndon B. Johnson sign the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Coretta Scott King presented Bush with a portrait of her husband, who would have been 73. She asked Americans to use the holiday as a day of service, not simply a day off.

As Bush stood arm-in-arm with Mrs. King, he thanked her for the portrait and said of her husband: "It is with a great sense of pride and gratitude that we celebrate this 17th national holiday in honor of Dr. King's life and work. Let us take this opportunity to recall his vision and renew his call for equal justice for all. We enter this new year and this annual celebration with a revived national spirit."

During the brief White House ceremony, student debaters from Texas Southern University performed a dramatic interpretation of King's 1963 "I have a dream" speech. Earlier, Bush had announced the creation of a Martin Luther King scholarship program for talented college students, and also announced that federal funding for Black and Hispanic colleges would increase $12 million to more than $350 million.

Meanwhile, Laura Bush honored King by traveling to Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, where King was pastor. About 2,000 people packed the church, where the first lady called King "a man committed to peace and a man committed to change."

All across the country, from Los Angeles to New York City, from Montgomery, AL, to Hermiston, OR, Americans participated in activities honoring Dr. King. While Martin Luther King III spoke to a group in Detroit, Kings' eldest daughter, Yolanda, told 1,500 people gathered at a memorial breakfast in Boston that September 11 had erased racial differences--for the time being. "Skin color was covered by the ash of burning towers," she said. "Perhaps the best response to this tragedy is to not go back to normal."

In Memphis, the National Civil Rights museum honored the holiday with a variety of King exhibits and a locally produced play. While in Baltimore, residents celebrated with an "I Have a Dream" weekend.

In Washington, D.C., a prayer service was followed by a march to the African-American Civil War Memorial, the site for a wreath-laying ceremony. And in Los Angeles, thousands attended the annual King Kingdom Day Parade. Floats, drill teams and dance groups took part in the 17th annual event that ran between Crenshaw and MLK boulevards.

New York City held its annual King Walk. Participants sang freedom songs and toured important civil rights sites in Harlem. The city's new mayor, Michael Bloomberg, spent part of the day with the Rev. Al Sharpton, speaking at Sharpton's National Action Network in Harlem.

And in Chicago some 2,000 gathered downtown for the 12th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Breakfast sponsored by Rainbow/PUSH Coalition and PUSH-Excel. The keynote speaker was U.S. Rep. Jesse L. Jackson, Jr., who was joined by a host of area politicians, business and religious leaders in celebrating the late Nobel Peace Prize winner's life and legacy. A week earlier, Mayor Richard M. Daley hosted the city's 16th annual King Interfaith Breakfast. New Orleans Mayor Marc Morial served as keynote speaker.

King's birthday became a national holiday in 1986, three years after President Ronald Reagan signed a bill that established the third Monday of every January as the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Holiday. Today, the King holiday is celebrated in the United States and in more than 100 other nations around the world.