MLK Day | The Gamutt Blog

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.

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Events Leading to King Holiday

On November 2, 1983, President Ronald Reagan signed the King Holiday Bill into law, designating the third Monday in January a federal holiday in observance of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The legislation to recognize Martin Luther King Jr. Day was first introduced just four days after his assassination on April 4, 1968. Still, it would take 15 years of persistence by civil rights activists for the holiday to be approved by the federal government and an additional 17 years for it to be recognized in all 50 states. Today, it is the only federal holiday designated as a national day of service to encourage all Americans to volunteer and improve their communities.

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