On the third Monday in January each year, the US federal government closes all stores for one day to honor the hero of civil rights Martin Luther King, who was assassinated in Memphis on April 4, 1968.
But the road to establishing a holiday in honor of King was long. There was no federal holiday until 1986, almost 20 years after it was introduced in Congress, according to US Today. Even then, however, there was a continuing controversy over the recognition of the day as an official holiday by all states, reaching 2000 to accept the holiday nationally.
While the nation recognizes King as a “symbol of democracy” today, in the 1960s and 1970s, he was still a controversial figure, according to Michael Melli, an American historian and professor of humanities at the University of Washington in Tacoma.
“It was the first celebration around a non-president and an African-American national,” Meli said. “Many in Congress did not want to recognize an African-American who was considered a troublemaker by some in his day.”
How King’s Day was established
On April 8, 1968, spokesman John Conyers, D-Mich., Introduced federal holiday legislation, according to The King Center. The following year, on January 15, 1969, annual King’s birthday ceremonies were inaugurated by The King Center in Atlanta, while the center requested nationwide ceremonies and began working to gain support for its establishment. holiday on King’s birthday.
In the 1970s, support for King’s national holidays increased with several states, including Illinois, Massachusetts and Connecticut, becoming the first states to introduce the state holiday. But Congress failed to act nationally, according to The King Center.
In 1979, President Jimmy Carter called on Congress to vote on King’s Day. Not everyone participated and the bill was defeated by a five-vote vote in Parliament in November 1979. Following the defeat of the bill, Stevie Wonder released “Happy Birthday” to support the introduction of a national holiday in King’s honor, according to The King. Center. The song became a hit, and in the early 1980s, Wonder teamed up with King’s widow to achieve their goal. In 1982, King and Wonder submitted a petition with 6 million signatures in favor of the celebration to the Speaker of Parliament.
Finally, on 3 November 1983, the President Ronald Reagan signed a bill for the third Monday in January near the political rights leader’s birthday on January 15, a holiday in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr., with a commitment to start celebrating in 1986, as happened in January 1986.
In total, in the United States, only the birthdays of three historical figures are considered public holidays. In addition to King’s, former presidents George Washington and Abraham Lincoln have their own day of honor, according to history.com.
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