King decided he needed to do something dramatic -- and provoked his arrest by leading a demonstration on April 12 , Good Friday . Kennedy 's assassination , Martin Luther King Jr. 's ` ` I Have a Dream '' speech in 1963 . Twenty years later , 2013 offered an opportunity to remember those events . Other civil rights milestones plus cultural touchstones made it a pivotal year .
Kennedy 's assassination , Martin Luther King Jr. 's ` ` I Have a Dream '' speech in 1963 . Twenty years later , 2013 offered an opportunity to remember those events . Other civil rights milestones plus cultural touchstones made it a pivotal year .