Dozens of Fort McCoy community members gathered Jan. 16 to celebrate the life and ideals of Martin Luther King (MLK) Jr. during Fort McCoy’s 2025 Martin Luther King Jr. Day Observance at McCoy’s Community Center at Fort McCoy.

The 2025 observance at Fort McCoy featured opening comments by Master Sgt. Jhoanna Adviento with the Fort McCoy Equal Opportunity Office who organized the event. It also included a special guest speaker — Dr. Quincey Daniels Jr, dissertation chair for the Sanford College of Education at National University and a former Army major.

The 2025 theme for the observance was “Remember! Celebrate! Act! Excellence in Action!” According to the Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute at Patrick Space Force Base, Fla., the theme also reflects on the 60th anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery marches.

Americans celebrated the first official Martin Luther King Day, which is the only federal holiday commemorating an African American, on Jan. 20, 1986. In 1994, Congress designated the holiday as a National Day of Service and made the third Monday in January every year the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service — a “Day On, Not a Day Off.”

King advocated for nonviolent resistance to overcome injustice as a means of lifting racial oppression. He created change with organized sit-ins, marches, and peaceful demonstrations that highlighted issues of inequality. King received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964; he was the youngest person to ever receive this high honor. He followed in the footsteps of his grandfather and father by entering the ministry to become a Baptist minister. On April 4, 1968, at the age of 39, he was assassinated in Memphis, Tenn., as he stood on the balcony of his hotel. King had traveled to Memphis to lead a march in support of striking sanitation workers.

According to The King Center’s website, thekingcenter.org: “During the less than 13 years of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s leadership of the modern American Civil Rights Movement, from December 1955 until April 4, 1968, African Americans achieved more genuine progress toward racial equality in America than the previous 350 years had produced. Dr. King is widely regarded as America’s pre-eminent advocate of nonviolence and one of the greatest nonviolent leaders in world history.”

During his presentation, Daniels recalled several areas of King’s legacy. He also talked about his experiences as a child dealing with segregation, and more.

“The first area that started the civil rights movement, (started with) Rosa Parks,” Daniels said. He said Parks wanted to sit at the front of the bus, and then had to fight to get the right to do so.

“The progress that I’ve seen in my going on seven decades … which is still hard to believe sometimes,” Daniels said. “I … attended the segregated kindergarten. I also had to drink from the black water fountain as opposed to the white water fountain when I was in kindergarten. (That) was really interesting because, you know, with little kids, we also sneak out by trying to take a drink. They’re like, it tastes the same. … We were just trying to figure out what the big deal was.”

Daniels also mentioned how important it was to desegregate schools and achieve the things that the Civil Rights Movement achieved. He also said there’s more work to do.

“We move … stronger together,” Daniels said.

Fort McCoy Garrison Commander Col. Sheyla Baez-Ramirez said the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday is always a good time to reflect.

“I think it’s very important that we recognize differences, that we recognize the sacrifices that all the generations and all the people have done throughout the years,” Baez said. “We need to continue to look at history and not repeat history again. Thank you to Dr. Daniels here today. We truly appreciate your presentation. It was beautiful, and I think your experience are very valuable.”

For more information about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his work or to find other events related to the holiday, visit https://thekingcenter.org.

Fort McCoy’s motto is to be the “Total Force Training Center.” Located in the heart of the upper Midwest, Fort McCoy is the only U.S. Army installation in Wisconsin.

The installation has provided support and facilities for the field and classroom training of more than 100,000 military personnel from all services nearly every year since 1984.

Learn more about Fort McCoy online at https://home.army.mil/mccoy, on Facebook by searching “ftmccoy,” on Flickr at https://www.flickr.com/photos/fortmccoywi, and on X (formerly Twitter) by searching “usagmccoy.”

Also try downloading the My Army Post app to your smartphone and set “Fort McCoy” or another installation as your preferred base. Fort McCoy is also part of Army’s Installation Management Command where “We Are The Army’s Home.”