Every year on the third Monday of January, our nation celebrates one of the greatest voices of the Civil Rights movement, Martin Luther King Jr. Even though Dr. King was assassinated in 1968, the national holiday wouldn’t be made official for another 32 years. Supporters of the idea had to campaign relentlessly for Congress to create it, and after that they had to work even harder to get individual states to recognize it.
The first motion to create a national holiday celebrating Dr. King was proposed by Representative John Conyers just four days after Dr. King’s assassination. After this, it took eleven years for the holiday to come up for a vote in the House of Representatives. Even then, the bill fell just five votes short of the required two-thirds it needed to pass. The House again took up the vote in 1983 and this time, it passed by 53 votes. It then came to the Senate, where – despite some opposition – it passed by twelve votes. President Reagan signed the bill in November of 1983, and the first time it was celebrated was in 1986. By 2000, all 50 states had accepted it as a national holiday.
But why have a holiday in the first place? We celebrate MLK Day for three main reasons. First, it honors the efforts of Dr. King and his passion for civil equality. Second, it calls us to remember the Civil Rights’ movement, so that we may learn from our country’s mistakes. Finally, it highlights the effectiveness of peaceful protest for changing society.
