King’s Holiday Continues to Grow

Every year on the third Monday in January, Americans celebrate the life of a very remarkable man, Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Junior.

”Like all great influential figures in history, some stand above the rest,” says history teacher Craig Ghessi. “People have to judge the long-term effects that these individuals had on History. King’s impact on the civil rights movement of the 1960s and beyond has been enormous. He not only represented African-Americans, but he also represented all people who experienced discrimination.”

In 1979, the bill to make King’s Birthday a national holiday was brought before congress, but at first it was five votes short of passing. The argument from Congress was that it would be too expensive to have a paid holiday for federal employees simply because of a private citizen (King never held a position in public office). Eventually, with six million signatures, Americans created the largest petition in U.S. history to establish a holiday for King, which was declared in 1983 by President Ronald Regan.  January 15^th was chosen because it was King’s birthday.

In most states, the holiday was not actually observed until 1986. A few states did choose to have the holiday as long as it was combined with another holiday, but in 2000 all fifty states finally began celebrating this date for its true, memorial meaning.  In fact, a few cities in other countries also choose to acknowledge the holiday in honor of King.

In the Japanese city of Hiroshima, mayor Tadatoshi Akiba has encouraged his city to observe this holiday, and he has even held an annual banquet in honor of King and his service to civil rights and peace.

In addition, Israel also pays respect to Dr. King every year because of their mutual views on peace. Israel even has a national forest named after King.

The Canadian city of Toronto also celebrates this holiday.

Since his death, King has had more postage stamps issued in his honor than any other Black American in the nation. Over 166,435,000 King stamps have been produced since his death to help Americans remember both him and the civil rights movement.