Today is Martin Luther King Day. It is a day to reflect on the astounding but still unfinished progress in justice and equality made by the civil rights movement in this country, led by King and many others.
The history of this holiday is very interesting. It was first proposed by Rep. John Conyers (D-Detroit) and first got a vote in Congress in 1979, where it failed to pass by a mere five votes. After more than six million people signed petitions in favor of the holiday, Congress passed a bill declaring today Martin Luther King Day by a massive margin (338-90 in the House 78-22 in the Senate) in 1983.
Ronald Reagan, president at the time, was opposed to the bill and threatened to veto it. But with the bill passing by veto-proof majorities, he bowed to political reality and signed the bill into law rather than lose a showdown with Congress. Among others who opposed the creation of this national holiday: Sen. Jesse Helms (not exactly a surprise) and Sen. John McCain.
Some states resisted recognizing the holiday. The aforementioned Evan Mecham was governor of Arizona when he actually rescinded the recognition of the holiday that had already been established by his predecessor, declaring, “King doesn’t deserve a holiday.” He was later impeached.
South Carolina didn’t recognize the holiday until 2000. Prior to that, state employees had a choice to celebrate that day or one of three Confederate holidays. Perhaps even worse, until the year 2000, Virginia had one big combined holiday in January called Lee-Jackson-King day, which celebrated — quite bizarrely — Martin Luther King along with Confederate heroes Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson. To this day, they still celebrate Lee-Jackson Day and shut down state offices on that day.
Here is the full version of King’s famous I Have A Dream speech:
The history of this holiday is very interesting. It was first proposed by Rep. John Conyers (D-Detroit) and first got a vote in Congress in 1979, where it failed to pass by a mere five votes. After more than six million people signed petitions in favor of the holiday, Congress passed a bill declaring today Martin Luther King Day by a massive margin (338-90 in the House 78-22 in the Senate) in 1983.
Ronald Reagan, president at the time, was opposed to the bill and threatened to veto it. But with the bill passing by veto-proof majorities, he bowed to political reality and signed the bill into law rather than lose a showdown with Congress. Among others who opposed the creation of this national holiday: Sen. Jesse Helms (not exactly a surprise) and Sen. John McCain.
Some states resisted recognizing the holiday. The aforementioned Evan Mecham was governor of Arizona when he actually rescinded the recognition of the holiday that had already been established by his predecessor, declaring, “King doesn’t deserve a holiday.” He was later impeached.
South Carolina didn’t recognize the holiday until 2000. Prior to that, state employees had a choice to celebrate that day or one of three Confederate holidays. Perhaps even worse, until the year 2000, Virginia had one big combined holiday in January called Lee-Jackson-King day, which celebrated — quite bizarrely — Martin Luther King along with Confederate heroes Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson. To this day, they still celebrate Lee-Jackson Day and shut down state offices on that day.
Here is the full version of King’s famous I Have A Dream speech: