It’s not just that the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. held his first formal sit-in on June 11, 1950, in the South Jersey town of Maple Shade, but that protest also led to King’s first lawsuit against discrimination.

The incident that prompted the sit-in sounds like something that might have occurred in Mississippi or elsewhere in the Jim Crow south — a sober reminder of New Jersey’s heritage of discrimination. King and several friends stopped at Mary’s Café in Maple Shade. They were refused service by Ernest Nichols, who fired a pistol in the air when they insisted on being served. Nichols was arrested and charged, but when witnesses failed to testify, the case was dropped.

King conducted his 1950 protest while attending a seminary in Pennsylvania near Philadelphia.

King visited New Jersey a number of times, bringing his message of civil rights and human dignity: Montclair in September 1966, Jersey City in September 1965 and March 1968. On March 27, 1968, he delivered a speech in Paterson to rally support for his Poor People’s Campaign. This was to be his last speech in a northern city before he was assassinated on April 4, 1968. He was 39.

It’s still hard to imagine that the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was killed because he wanted to bring equality, justice, peace and human dignity to men and women of all races and religions. We all might benefit from spending a few minutes remembering this, on this of all days.