Martin Luther King Jr. is a hero and icon of my lifetime.

When I watched him speak as a young girl growing up in Newark, I distinctly remember the sense of pride he brought to me and my family. He serves as a guidepost for those who seek to create a more just and equal society. When we honor his life and legacy every January, I think about how he will be a source of inspiration for generations to come and how much his civil rights activism improves the quality of our lives today.

King recognized that the past defines our present and future. He weaved historical references into his words saying, We are not makers of history. We are made by history. Its true that history is the roadmap that reveals the path our country and people have taken. From slavery in the South to the great migration north, history is an ever-constant reminder that change and progress are never easy or permanent.

Ending slavery and oppression, earning the right to vote, promoting equal opportunity for fair housing and employment these are all hard-fought issues that shape our lives.

Honoring the progress is important. It reminds us of how far weve come and how much work still needs to be done to achieve equality for all.

And we have some incredibly important and historic milestones that we are observing this year:

Four hundred years ago, on Aug. 20, 1619, the White Lion arrived in Point Comfort, Virginia. The captain brought not anything but 20 and odd Negroes. Their arrival marked the beginning of 250 years of slavery in North America.

155 years ago, on June 19, 1865 commonly referred to as Juneteenth all enslaved African Americans were emancipated throughout the United States.

100 years ago, on Aug. 18, 1920, the United States Congress ratified the 19th amendment, which granted women the right to vote. Even after its passage, black women faced extreme barriers to voting and were left disenfranchised, discriminated against and excluded for decades.

59 years ago, King famously wrote a letter proclaiming, Our battle cry is, let my people vote, urging the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 which would end blatant discriminatory voting practices that were used at all government levels for African Americans.

We owe gratitude to the freedom fighters of the past who overcame hardship and changed the lives of the generations that came after them.

When King set his sights in the latter part of his life on the issues that he believed were the result of systemic racism poverty, a lack of affordable housing, homelessness and wage inequality he knew systemic change was the only way to incite social change.

Today, as Gov. Phil Murphy and I fight our own battles for a stronger and fairer New Jersey, we are reminded of the civil rights victories won by King and his predecessors. We hope to build on those victories in the name of social justice and equality.

We have been working to tackle the systemic racism that exists in our state. Our administration has signed laws that help ensure equal pay is received for equal work, restore voting rights to over 80,000 people on probation or parole, restore critical funding for family planning and womens reproductive health, and put us on a path to a fair minimum wage. Also, First Lady Tammy Murphy has championed a health care campaign called Nurture NJ to help protect black mothers and children from mortality during pregnancy and after childbirth.

We are doing our part. And we hope that you will do your part this year by exercising your hard-fought right to vote. Also, when the Census 2020 team sends you an email or comes knocking on your door, please participate. By participating, you are helping make certain that everyone in our state is counted. A complete count is important because it ensures that New Jersey will continue to receive critical funding from the federal government for education, infrastructure and public assistance programs. Voting and filling out the census form are small things you can do to make a big difference.

I firmly believe that change, no matter how big or small, is meaningful and impactful.

As we honor the progress of Martin Luther King Jr. this weekend and the freedom fighters of the past during Black History Month, lets keep their legacy alive and stay engaged to help make New Jersey and our country a better place to live.

Sheila Oliver, of East Orange, is lieutenant governor of New Jersey.

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Honor the progress of Martin Luther King Jr. by staying engaged in change, by Lt. Gov. Sheila Oliver - Press of Atlantic City