Martin Luther King Jr. Day is rapidly approaching the Monday of January. 15 -and this year, the national celebration falls during the birthday of the renowned civil rights icon who was murdered just over half a century in the past.
The United States commemorates the Rev. Martin King Jr.’s legacy Here are a few points to be aware of the day that honors the murdered activist and his struggle to end racial and economic inequality.
from subversive, to heroic
This year marks the anniversary of 56 years since the assassination of the activist.
In the present, King has been celebrated as a hero because he was a non-violent defender of racism and segregation policies, as well as horrendous brutality toward Black people. At that time, King’s ideas were viewed as radical by the majority of white America and even the federal government. (He had been the focus of numerous FBI surveillance programs which were designed to collect documents that were subversive about King.)
The Pew Research Center found that in 1966, two years after his award of the Nobel Peace Prize — 63 percent of Americans had a negative perception of King “including 44percent who judged King as highly unfavorably.” In the present 81 percent of American adults think he had a an influence on the nation.
Jonathan Eig, author of King An Life, toldNPR in 2023 that King, a minister who was a follower of his father’s footsteps was a leader of protests who didn’t like conflict.
As he sat in the middle of anti-segregation demonstrations, such as protests against the Montgomery bus boycott as well as the marches to Selma, Ala., to the capitol of the state, Eig claimed that King “is always taking every effort to avoid conflicts with people whom he considers to be his elders. … He isn’t one to enjoy conflicts.”
Eig said: “He has to push himself beyond his comfort zone in order to debate and debate, and to truly challenge the top leaders of this nation.”
The path towards the federal holiday
The struggle to make MLK Day a federally recognized holiday was a long and difficult process for the people who fought it who started the campaign shortly after King’s assassination from the balcony of the hotel located in Memphis, Tenn., on April 4, 1968.
The president Ronald Reagan who eventually signed an act in 1983 that included Martin Luther King Jr. Day to the list of federal holidays. It was a celebration of King’s contribution to Civil Rights Movement. It was not officially recognized until 1986.
However, there were some remaining dissenters who would not recognize the holiday on a state level. Most notably, Arizona opposed it until the referendum was approved in 1992, following the state had lost $500 million in revenues in the event that the NFL relocated in 1993 the Super Bowl game to California to protest.
Why is January so busy and why do we have Mondays?
The holiday falls at the end of the 3rd Monday in each month, approximately around King’s birthday, which is January. 15. The time of the holiday coincides to the Uniform Holiday Act of 1968, which provides that workers have a long holiday.
In 1994, during the presidency of former President Bill Clinton, it became the sole federal holiday which is dedicated to volunteering after Congress adopted the King Holiday and Service Act. Americans are encouraged to celebrate the day “with the commitment to civic engagement and volunteering for the community” to honor King’s legacy.
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