Celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. Day with the Victor Valley College Library.
"The fight to make the Martin Luther King Jr. birthday a holiday took 32 years. King’s birthday was finally approved as a federal holiday in 1983, and all 50 states made it a state government holiday by 2000.
The King Center in Atlanta has a detailed chronology of how the efforts, starting shortly after King’s death in 1968, paid off in the long run. It wasn’t an easy task for holiday supporters, who had to push hard in Congress to get the federal holiday created.
Today, the King holiday serves multiple purposes: It honors the total legacy of King; focuses on the issue of civil rights; highlights the use of nonviolence to promote change; and calls people into public service."
Source: National Constitution Center