The third Monday of January might mean you get to sleep in. No school! But the family of Martin Luther King, Jr., and many others also hope it is a day focused on serving others.
It wasn’t easy to establish a national holiday for the man who devoted his life to civil rights.
Just four days after King’s assassination on April 4, 1968, Democratic Congressman John Conyers of Michigan first made the proposal: Create a day to honor the pastor and activist.
Supporters knew it would be a difficult goal. King was a divisive figure at the time of his death. Polls by The Washington Post and The New York Times indicated most Americans thought he was too radical. His speeches on poverty and housing seemed extreme. He was against the Vietnam War.
Conyers founded the Congressional Black Caucus. Black members of the United States Congress participate. For 15 years, they kept bringing the national holiday legislation up for a vote. Some lawmakers objected. They said public holidays don’t apply to private citizens. They also accused King of being a communist.
Lerone Martin is the director of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford University. He says it wasn’t until the 1980s that Americans shifted their thinking. They reflected on racial progress. More people regretted the Vietnam War.
President Ronald Reagan finally signed the King Holiday Bill into law in 1983. That was about 20 years after King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. It took another 17 years for all 50 states to recognize the day. Most of the foot-dragging came from Southern states and Arizona.
President Bill Clinton signed legislation that made Martin Luther King, Jr., Day a National Day of Service. It is the only federal holiday with that designation. It is a call to Americans to serve their communities.
Just about every major city and suburb has some form of celebration, including parades, streets festivals, and concerts. Service projects run the gamut: clean-up, packing food boxes, and donating blood.
King’s daughter, Bernice King, wishes people would do more than “quote King, which we love to do.” She wants them to do good work and commit daily “to embrace the spirit of nonviolence.”
In one of his last sermons, “The Drum Major Instinct,” King urged his hearers to be people who pour out for others. He said, “If you want to be great—wonderful. But recognize that he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. That’s a new definition of greatness.”
Read Matthew 23:1-12 to learn about the greatest Servant of all.
