Stevie Wonder’s “Happy Birthday,” from his 1980 album Hotter than July, was a pivotal anthem in the successful campaign to make Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday a U.S. federal holiday, a goal achieved in 1983 after years of activism, rallies, and petitions led by Wonder and others like Coretta Scott King. The song, with lyrics celebrating King’s legacy and advocating for his recognition, became a powerful tool for social change, turning a simple birthday tune into a civil rights landmark that helped establish the first national holiday honoring a Black American.