CHICAGO, Ill. — Illinois on Monday is celebrating not only Martin Luther King Day, but for the first time, Muhammad Ali Day.
The resolution to make January 17, Muhammad Ali’s birthday, a state holiday was passed in June.
Ali, like Dr. King, was considered a champion of civil justice.
Ali was not only a boxer, he was an activist, entertainer, poet and philanthropist, who lived in Chicago in the 1960s and 1970s.
Monday afternoon, there will be a virtual and in-person tribute to Ali and Dr. King in Chicago.
Reverend Jesse Jackson will speak as will Ali’s daughter Maryum.
Monday would have been Ali’s 80th birthday. He died in 2016.
