MLK Day

Martin Luther King Jr. born January 15, 1929. King was assasinated April 4, 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee. Photo Credit: Google

Thirty-two years after Martin Luther King Jr was assassinated, a bill for the MLK holiday was signed. But the fight for the holiday was a long and hard one that lasted the entirety of those 32 years and is often forgotten.

Martin Luther King Jr.

Martin Luther King Jr. was born January 15, 1929 in Atlanta Georgia to Martin Luther King Sr and Alberta Williams King. King attended a segregated public school and graduated at age 15. He later went to attend Morehouse College, a negro college which both his father and grandfather had graduated from. Then he would study at Crozer Theological Seminary for three years where he was elected president of his predominantly white class. After receiving a fellowship award at Crozer he went on to enroll in Boston University where he got his doctorate in theology in 1953 and received his degree in 1955.  

After receiving his doctorate at age 25, King returned to the south and became a pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Alabama. Shortly after King had moved to Alabama, Rosa Parks made history on a Montgomery bus. King played a vital leadership role in the organization of the bus boycott that lasted over a year. During this time the king was arrested and subject to abuse and violence. After his imprisonment, King was seen as a leader in the civil rights movement. Martin Luther King founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the SCLC for short, to promote nonviolent protests against the Jim Crow Laws. According to the NAACP “Inspired by Mahatma Gandhi's model of nonviolent resistance, King believed that peaceful protest for civil rights would lead to sympathetic media coverage and public opinion.” And when civil rights activists were attacked it caused nationwide outrage. In 1959 King returned to Atlanta to work with his father as co-pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church. King worked on organizing sit-ins in public spaces, another protest that gained nationwide attention when footage showed police deploying water jets and police dogs against peaceful protests. During this King was arrested, and there he made his “letter from Birmingham jail” in response to a call made by white sympathizers addressing civil rights through legal means. 

In 1963 King worked with civil rights organizations such as the SCLC and NAACP to organize the march on Washington for civil and economic rights. The march was attended by 250,000 people. It was here that the king delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. In 1965 King participated in the Selma-to-Montgomery march. When the march concluded King gave his “How Long, Not Long” speech. During this speech, he had predicted equal rights would imminently be granted. Over the years the king called for a bill of rights for all Americans. In the spring of 1968, King went to Memphis and Tennessee to support black sanitary workers on strike. On April 4th, 1968 Martin Luther King Jr was assassinated in his Memphis hotel by James Earl Ray.

Fight for MLK Day

Four days after King's assassination Congressman John Conyers proposed the bill for the MLK holiday. It would be 15 years until Congress passed the bill, and an additional 17 years until the holiday was recognized by all 50 states. John Conyers reintroduced the bill every year along with the congressional black caucus. It wasn't until 1979, on King's 50th birthday, that the bill would come to vote for the first time. Though the bill had, according to the National Museum of African American History,  “a petition of 300,000 signatures in support, the backing of President Jimmy Carter, and testimonials from King’s widow, Coretta Scott King” the bill was rejected. Public support continued to grow in favor of the holiday. Stevie Wonder and Coretta Scott King assisted in growing the support by attending Rallies and spreading the message. Stevie Wonder released the song “ Happy Birthday “ in remembrance of King and to assist in growing support. In 1983, 15 years after King's murder, the bill went up for vote for the second time. Coretta Scot King, Stevie Wonder, and the Congressional Black Caucus got 6 million signatures in favor. With 338 votes in favor, the bill passed in the House of Congress. Once the bill had moved to the Senate there was an attempt to dismiss it by Jesse Helms. After two days of debate, President Ronald Regan agreed to sign the bill. 

Though the bill had officially been federally recognized, state-wide recognition was not uniform. Some states had combined the holiday with another, such as Robert E. Lee's birthday while others such as Arizona did not recognize the holiday at all. Many southern states saw King as an enemy to their beliefs causing it to be difficult to see how or why he should be celebrated. It wasn’t until the early 2000s that MLK Jr. Day was recognized by all 50 states. 

Celebration

On August 23, 1994, the King Holiday and Service Act was signed by President Bill Clinton. This made MLK Day the only federal holiday recognized as a national day of service and encouraged Americans to volunteer and improve their communities. Many people celebrate this holiday by volunteering in their communities or spreading awareness about MLK Day and the importance behind it. MLK Day is significant to many people, specifically people of color. When asked of its importance Olivia Smith states “It’s obviously a big moment in history and it has affected how we live today. So, I think it has an importance to, not just me, but all of us.” Not only is MLK Day about remembering Martin Luther King Jr but it's also about remembering what he worked and lived for as well as how far we have come and how far we can go.