Today is: Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
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Martin Luther Luther King, Jr. Day honors the legacy and celebrates the birthday of the iconic civil rights leader, Martin Luther King, Jr. A campaign to create the day started shortly after King's death in 1968. Representative John Conyers (D-MI) and Senator Edward Brooke (R-MA) introduced a bill to make King's birthday a national holiday, and it first came up for a vote in 1979 but fell short. The two main arguments against its creation were that having another paid federal holiday would be too expensive and honoring a private citizen would go against tradition. Up until that time the only two other figures were honored with a national holiday, George Washington and Christopher Columbus.
Source: Checkiday.com
This article originally appeared on Fremont News-Messenger: Today is: Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
