Why is MLK,Jr.'s birth date a national holiday?

Question

The question is not bigoted nor rhetorical, but honest and legitimate. Of all the great Americans who have ever lived, why is MLK, Jr.'s birth date the only one that is a national holiday?

The "Best Answer" will be truthful and non-prejidicial.

All I did was ask an honest question. Nothing bigoted about it. Many of you seem to be saying, "How dare you ask."

Well, I dare ask. Now, can you answer it.....without sounding bigoted?

Answer 1

Why do you think? Now, really...

Answer 2

In 1957, Dr. King founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and moved back to his home town of Atlanta, Georgia. This was the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement. In the years following, he continued to organize non-violent protests against unequal treatment of African-American people. His philosophy remained peaceful, and he constantly reminded his followers that their fight would be victorious if they did not resort to bloodshed.

All through the 1980's, controversy surrounded the idea of a Martin Luther King Day. Congressmen and citizens had petitioned the President to make January 15, Martin Luther King's birthday, a federal legal holiday. Others wanted to make the holiday on the day he died, while some people did not want to have any holiday at all.

January 15 had been observed as a legal holiday for many years in 27 states and Washington, D.C. Finally, in 1986, President Ronald Reagan declared the third Monday in January a federal legal holiday commemorating Dr. Martin Luther King's birthday.

These are excerpts from a website as noted below... not my own words.

In my own words he was a great leader for the African American public and when he was murdered in cold blood they demanded the government officials to make a national holiday in his honor.

Answer 3

I feel MLK Jr. did not only speak for the black population in America but spoke to the whole world as well. He spoke for all minorities: woman, disabled people, Latinos etc. In a country that's run by a majority vote; it is nice to know someone still cares about the minority. MLK Jr.'s birthday, to me, celebrates the right of all minorities, not simply the rights for the American black community. There were other great men who may have done just as great things, but MLK came onto the seen at the right moment and in the right place. The United States needed Martin Luther King Jr. at that time in history.

Answer 4

I am not in favor of any one person having a holiday. I prefer Presidents Day to Lincoln's and Washington's Birthday.

I think Martin Luther King, Jr. was a great man but Rosa Parks was the reason he became great. I think it should be Racial Equality Day to honor all people that have helped the movement. Then Rosa Parks, Medgar Evans, and other great people would be honored.

In Illinois, we have Casimir Pulaski Day because the Polish immigrants were upset that the Blacks were to get a holiday and not them. I think this one should be American Hero's Day.

I also don't agree with Columbus Day. I would rather call it America Discovery Day or even Native American Day since they discovered America long before Columbus was born.

Answer 5

Sadly enough my girl Annie has the right answer. Blacks were given this day to TRY to chill out the violence in their respective hoods. As always, in time people tend to blend in with society such as the afro americans have slowly been doing. We are getting closer to equaility in this fine country but I do regret the reverse discrimination that has occured in the time that I have grown up has hurt many more whites than helped blacks. So let it be known that blacks would have accomplished the same amount they have even without the freebies like MLK day and college scholorships etc.
So again Jesse and other hate mongors your frigan useless.

Answer 6

fairly? "on the White abode Rose backyard on November 2, 1983, President Ronald Reagan signed a bill transforming into a federal vacation to honor King. talked about for the first time on January 20, 1986, that's named Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Following President George H. W. Bush's 1992 proclamation, the vacation is talked about on the 0.33 Monday of January in accordance to annum, close to the time of King's birthday.[191] On January 17, 2000, for the first time, Martin Luther King Jr. Day grow to be formally talked about in all fifty U.S. states.[192]"

Answer 7

MLK should be a national day. He was a great and wonderful wised man. Mlk paved the way for alot of african americans. Here are some reasons why.
M.L.K was inspired by the work of Henry David Thoreau, particularly his essay called "Civil Disobedience." It stated that if enough people would follow their conscience and disobey unjust laws, they could bring about a peaceful revolution.

In 1954 M.L.K received his PhD. and accepted the job of pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama
Martin Luther King, Jr. would now be addressed as "Dr. King"

Dr. King's involvement with the civil rights movement began with the arrest of Mrs. Rosa Parks on December 1st , 1955. Mrs. Parks, a African-American seamstress on her way home from work, was arrested for not giving a white bus rider her seat. Mrs. Parks was not the first African-American to be arrested for this "crime", but she was well known in the Montgomery African-American community

Dr. King and the other African-American community leaders felt a protest was needed. The African-American residents of the city were asked to boycott the bus company by walking and driving instead. The United States Supreme Court would end the boycott, which lasted 381 days, by declaring that Alabama's state and local laws requiring segregation on buses were illegal. The boycott was a success and Dr. King had showed that peaceful mass action could bring about change

In January 1957 the Souther Christian Leadership Conference (SCLSC) was formed with Dr. King as their president. The following May 17, Dr. King would lead a mass march of 37,000 people to the front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC.

And that is just some of the reason why M.L.K. day should be a national holiday. I could go on and on!


1964 would be a good year for Dr. King and the civil rights movement. Dr. King was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize as someone who "had contributed the most to the furtherance of peace among men." Dr. King would divide the prize money, $54,000, among various civil rights organizations

President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act into law. It guaranteed that "No person in the United States shall, on the ground of race, color, or national origin, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination".


I hope this help you see why and change your viewpoint about M.L.K. Day!!!
Dr. M.L.K died or better yet was assassinated doing what he believed in. He did it for the future of the generations to come. I thank Dr. King because if he had not stood stong( me )personally being an african american wouldn't have the rights I have today!

Answer 8

Actually, I know it won't set good with some, but the
Black people needed a Hero and MLK did more for them
than any other person, so he became a hero and they
voted to make his birthday a holiday. There were riots
wherever he went and he, like John Kennedy, had other
women other than his own wife. King was also
Jesse Jackson's hero, but Jackson also stired up riots
and civil commotion and Jackson also had women on the side plus at least one illegitimate
baby by one of them for which he is paying child support.
To me, their kind is not hero material.

Answer 9

On August 2, 1983, the House of Representatives, passed a bill legally making Martin Luther King Jr., a national holiday.

Answer 10

It is Politically correct to praise him and honor him even if you do not mean it.

Real world white America (where I live) does not really care. MLK day to us means that the Post office and bank will be closed.

It means no more or no less.

So to answer your question. Whichever Politician proposed this holiday for our country was smart. How could anyone stand up and say "No to MLK day, this is a bad idea"?

No one could oppose it without losing votes. Plus there is a very real argument that MLK deserves a National Holiday.

So it was unstoppable as soon as a Politician mentioned it.

Answer 11

Didn't you know that Washington and Lincoln's birthdays are national holidays too?
Meanwhile, MLK, Jr. birthday is worthy of a national holiday because he was an American who had a belief, a dream, for a better America and he stood forward and spoke it and lived it. Part of the "American Way" is about honesty and integrity and the ability to say out loud what you believe and working hard for what you believe in. He did those things even at the risk of his own life, the ultimate courage of a hero. And the world changed.
He symbolizes for all of us, the power of one person to touch millions, the power we all possess to change the world.