“This was the first holiday around a national figure who is not a president, and who is African American,” American historian Michael Honey said.
In the 1970s, support for a national Martin Luther King Jr. holiday grew. Several states, including Illinois, Massachusetts and Connecticut, become the first states to enact statewide King holidays, but Congress failed to act on a national level, according to The King Center.
In 1979, President Jimmy Carter called on Congress to vote on the King Holiday Bill. Not everyone was on board, and the bill was defeated by five votes in the House in November 1979., continued to fight for approval of the holiday and testified before Congress multiple times.Stevie Wonder released"Happy BirthdayThe song became a hit, and in the early 1980s, Wonder worked with Coretta Scott King to gain support for the national holiday, according to the King Center.
In January 1986, the first national Martin Luther King Jr. holiday was observed. According to the center, by this time, 17 states had already enacted King holidays.Uniform Monday Holiday Act
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