Martin Luther King Jr. Day in the United States
Martin Luther King Jr. Day (officially Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr.) is an American federal holiday marking the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. It is observed on the third Monday of January each year, which is around King's birthday, January 15. The holiday is similar to holidays set under the Uniform Monday Holiday Act.
King was the chief spokesman for nonviolent activism in the Civil Rights Movement, which successfully protested racial discrimination in federal and state law. The campaign for a federal holiday in King's honor began soon after his assassination in 1968. President Ronald Reagan signed the holiday into law in 1983, and it was first observed three years later. At first, some states resisted observing the holiday as such, giving it alternative names or combining it with other holidays. It was officially observed in all 50 states for the first time in 2000.
Why is Martin Luther King Day celebrated?
The idea of Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a holiday was promoted by labor unions in contract negotiations. After King's death, U.S. Representative John Conyers (a Democrat from Michigan) and U.S. Senator Edward Brooke (a Republican from Massachusetts) introduced a bill in Congress to make King's birthday a national holiday. The bill first came to a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1979. However, it fell five votes short of the number needed for passage. Two of the main arguments mentioned by opponents were that a paid holiday for federal employees would be too expensive, and that a holiday to honor a private citizen would be contrary to longstanding tradition (King had never held public office). Only two other figures have national holidays in the U.S. honoring them: George Washington and Christopher Columbus.
Soon after, the King Center turned to support from the corporate community and the general public. The success of this strategy was cemented when musician Stevie Wonder released the single "Happy Birthday" to popularize the campaign in 1980 and hosted the Rally for Peace Press Conference in 1981. Six million signatures were collected for a petition to Congress to pass the law, termed by a 2006 article in The Nation as "the largest petition in favor of an issue in U.S. history."
Ronald Reagan and Coretta Scott King at the Martin Luther King Jr. Day signing ceremony.
Senators Jesse Helms and John Porter East (both North Carolina Republicans) led opposition to the holiday and questioned whether King was important enough to receive such an honor. Helms criticized King's opposition to the Vietnam War and accused him of espousing "action-oriented Marxism". Helms led a filibuster against the bill and on October 3, 1983, submitted a 300-page document to the Senate alleging that King had associations with communists. New York Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan declared the document a "packet of filth", threw it on the Senate floor and stomped on it.
President Ronald Reagan originally opposed the holiday, citing cost concerns. When asked to comment on Helms' accusations that King was a communist, the president said "We'll know in thirty-five years, won't we?", in reference to the eventual release of FBI surveillance tapes that had previously been sealed.But on November 2, 1983, Reagan signed a bill, proposed by Representative Katie Hall of Indiana, to create a federal holiday honoring King.The bill had passed the House of Representatives by a count of 338 to 90, a veto-proof margin.The holiday was observed for the first time on January 20, 1986.
The bill also established the Martin Luther King Jr. Federal Holiday Commission to oversee observance of the holiday, and Coretta Scott King, King's wife, was made a member of this commission for life by President George H. W. Bush in May 1989.
Why did Martin Luther King Jr. do what he did?
Martin Luther King Jr. was a driving force behind various civil rights reforms in the United States because he believed in freedom for all people. He received a Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 for his work.
Dr. King focused on American injustice as it related to the political, educational and social status of black people. Despite the adoption of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, which banned the practice of slavery, the 14th Amendment, which extended citizenship to black people and the 15th Amendment, which gave black people the right to vote, overt and covert inequalities still existed, particularly in the southern region of the country.
Between 1955 and 1968, Dr. King fought to change these injustices through peaceful demonstrations and petitions to enact change. Many such demonstrations were met with violent resistance. The Supreme Court handed down a decision that "separate but equal" policies did not violate the 14th Amendment, but overturned that decision after finding that "separate but equal" education was inherently unequal. The subsequent unrest led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the March on Washington. Dr. King's efforts, along with many other activities during the Civil Rights Movement, led to the development and passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964 and the Voting Rights Act in 1965.
? Latest Romantic Good Morning Shayari
? Good Morning Shayari With Images
? Gujarati Good Morning Shayari
0 comments:
Post a Comment