ATLANTA — Born in Atlanta Jan. 15, 1929, Saturday would have marked Martin Luther King Jr.'s 93rd birthday.
The transformational preacher and Civil Rights leader was raised as a child here in Atlanta and made his mark as a preacher at the Ebenezer Baptist Church here.
On Saturday figures including Sen. Rev. Raphael Warnock, the current pastor of Ebenezer Baptist, and King's daughter Dr. Bernice King paid tribute to the man who became a pivotal figure in American history.
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"Happy birthday to Georgia's greatest son, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.!" Warnock tweeted.
The senator's post included a quote from MLK: "True peace is not merely the absence of tension; it is the presence of justice."
Dr. Bernice King, the CEO of the King Center in Atlanta, tweeted out a photo of her parents and remarked: "A favorite photo of my parents. What a genuine, joyful smile. And I wanted to share it with you on Daddy's 93rd birthday."
The MLK Holiday will be observed across the country on Monday.
This year, the King family as well as Democrats such as Warnock are using the occasion to push for voting rights bills that have currently stalled in the U.S. Senate.
Bernice King said last month that the family would calling for supporters to "speak and act in a way to ensure that this nation lives up to its promise of democracy, by putting pressure on our United States Senate to bypass the filibuster and instead of taking the King Holiday off, they should make it a 'day on' to pass the voting rights acts."
Bernice King added the King Center would commemorate MLK Day with planned services including the Beloved Community Awards and the digital Beloved Community Global Summit in advance of the holiday, and commemoration services at Ebenezer Baptist Church along with on-site voter registration and education actions on MLK Day itself.
Warnock, speaking earlier this month, evoked Dr. King in making the argument for the two voting rights bills - the Freedom to Vote Act and John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act - that have not been able to move forward in the Senate due to the filibuster.
"I take great umbrage when members of this body would use old, trite states' rights arguments - the same kind of states' rights arguments that were used against Dr. King back then - to push against reasonable access to the ballot right now," Warnock said in his comments. "Many of these same politicians will stand up in just a few days and they will give lip service to Martin Luther King, Jr. (on the MLK holiday). Well you cannot remember Dr. King and dismember his legacy at the same time."