On this day, 39 years ago, January 19th, 1986, the Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday was first observed as a national holiday in the United States. Establishing it as a federal holiday was not an easy task, considering it took almost 20 years after his death on April 4th, 1968. There are only three federal holidays honoring specific individuals. MLK Day, Presidents’ Day’, and Columbus Day. The idea to honor Dr. King, came immediately after his passing. Former Rep. John Conyers of Michigan proposed a bill to Congress four days after he was killed on April 8th, 1968. However, segregation and racial division were still happening, therefore majority of people did not agree. Many people were against honoring Dr. King with his own holiday saying he was “too radical.” Connecticut was the first state to create a Dr. King holiday, originally celebrated on the second Sunday of January, it did not become a legal holiday in the state until 1976, his birthday January 15th was recognized as a paid King holiday. Illinois was the first state to legally recognize a MLK holiday in 1973. 15 years after his death President Ronald Reagan signed the bill into law, officially establishing Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day. By 1986, the first MLK Day celebration was finally held. It was not until the year 2000 that all 50 states, official recognized MLK Day. Arizona, New Hampshire, and South Carolina chose not initially to celebrate the holiday. In 1986, Gov. Evan Mecham of Arizona canceled the holiday due to legal technicalities. There was a lot of backlash behind this decision, the NFL even decided to move the 1993 Superbowl out of Phoenix. New Hampshire refused to observe the holiday under its correct name, instead they called it “Civil Rights Day”, they officially began calling it MLK Day in 1999. In 2000, South Carolina decided to recognize MLK Day as a paid holiday, becoming the last state to do so. Before 2000, state employees had the option on which holiday they wanted to be paid, MLK Day or three Confederate holidays. […]
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