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Print This StoryMLK Day: How It Became A Holiday
1968
- Four days after King is assassinated, Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) submits legislation proposing King's birthday as a national holiday.
1969
- Sixty automotive workers in North Tarrytown, N.Y., are suspended from work after more than 1,200 workers stay home to observe MLK Day.
1970
- Conyers and Rep. Shirley Chisholm (D-N.Y.) carry 6 million signatures in support of MLK Day to a hearing to study the holiday issue.
- California becomes the first state to pass legislation making Martin Luther King Jr. Day a school holiday.
1973
- Illinois becomes the first state to pass a statewide King holiday bill.
1979
- Coretta Scott King testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee and before joint hearings of Congress on behalf of the King holiday.
- The King holiday bill is defeated in a floor vote in the U.S. House of Representatives.
1980
- Stevie Wonder's hit song "Happy Birthday" celebrates King and urges a holiday in his honor.
1982
- Coretta Scott King and Stevie Wonder present 6 million signatures in support of the MLK holiday to Speaker of the House Tip O'Neil.
1983
- The U.S. House of Representatives passes legislation, 338-90, making Martin Luther King Jr. Day a national legal holiday on the third Monday in January.
- The U.S. Senate approves the holiday bill sponsored by Ted Kennedy, 78-22, despite Sen. Jesse Helms' protests.
- President Ronald Reagan signs the legislation to make Martin Luther King Jr.'s Day a national holiday.
1986
- First national observance of the holiday.
1989
- The number of states that have legislated an MLK holiday reaches 44.
1990
- The Wall Street Journal reports that only 18 percent of 317 corporate employers provide a paid MLK holiday.
1992
- Arizona is put in the national spotlight for its lack of support for the MLK holiday. In November, a referendum is finally passed, leaving New Hampshire as the only state not to honor the observance.
1998
- Reports show that 26 percent of 458 surveyed employers provided a paid holiday for MLK Day.
1999
- New Hampshire passes MLK Day legislation, completing enactment of the holiday in all 50 states.
- The U.S. Senate unanimously passes legislation requiring federal institutions to fly the U.S. flag on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
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