Today marks the sixteenth national celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, which celebrates the achievements of the slain civil rights leader and serves as a day of reflection on the history of the civil rights movement as well as the quest to make sure its importance will be remembered in the future.
The call for a holiday honoring Rev. King arose swiftly following his assassination in Memphis, Tenn. in 1968.
By 1970, the state legislature in California had made King's birthday a school holiday, and advocates of a national holiday in King's name were lobbying the United States Congress to follow suit soon after.
In the following years, most states independently created a King holiday, often coinciding with the day commemorating General Robert E. Lee in many southern states.
A bill for the creation of a national holiday in King's name was first presented to Congress in 1973, but failed. Similar bills were brought up repeatedly in the next ten years, but all were unsuccessful.
In fact, it was not until 1983 that Martin Luther King, Jr. Day was made a federal holiday by a 78-22 vote in the Senate.
Late in the campaign, the debate mainly focused on when the holiday should take place. Some advocates wished the day to commemorate King's birthday, while others wished it to mark the day on which he was assassinated.
Eventually the third Monday in January was settled on as a fitting day for the holiday, as bipartisan support for its creation finally superceded these conflicting desires.
Even in 1983, the passage of the holiday into federal law was not assured. Vocal opponents of the bill attacked King's character, calling him a communist, and pointed out that no other national figure had been given a national holiday since George Washington.
However, President Ronald Reagan signed the bill creating the federal holiday later in 1983, and its first observance occurred in 1986.
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day was the third and final federal holiday to be created in the twentieth century, following Veterans' Day in 1926 and Memorial Day in 1948.
Creation of a federal holiday does not mean that a state must also make the date a holiday, and several states made Martin Luther King, Jr. Day a holiday only after the federal holiday was created.
Although Monday will mark the second annual celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in New Hampshire, the path to gain recognition for the accomplishments of the civil rights leader in this state has been particularly difficult.
New Hampshire has had a Civil Rights day for many years, and has had King Day bills introduced frequently since 1979. It was not until the middle of 1999, however, that legislation passed adding Rev. King's name to the holiday.
Only through continued efforts by supporters in the state legislature, the Martin Luther King Day Committee, and other concerned parties including College President James Wright, was the third Monday in January finally Martin Luther King, Jr. Civil Rights Day in 2000.
New Hampshire was the last of the 50 states to name a holiday for Rev. King.
President James Wright was a particularly enthusiastic proponent of adding King's name to Civil Rights Day.
In early 1999 Wright wrote an editorial published in the Valley News, which appealed to New Hampshire's long record of fighting for and valuing freedom, as evidenced by the state motto, "Live Free or Die."
Wright declared that "when New Hampshire recognizes the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., by adding his name to our Civil Rights Day, it will do so secure in the knowledge that King's legacy is consistent with New Hampshire's legacy of fighting for America's freedom."
