History of Martin Luther King Jr. Day

POSTED: 11:22 AM PST Jan 12, 2012    UPDATED: 09:54 AM PST Jan 14, 2013 

Observed on the third Monday of January each year, Martin Luther King Jr. Day has only recently been a holiday for all the people, all the time. Read on to learn more about the complicated history behind this special holiday.

MLK assassination site 2
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Yuri Gripas/Reuters

In the months after MLK’s death in 1968, Congressman John Conyers Jr. of Michigan introduced the first legislation seeking to make King's birthday, Jan. 15, a federal holiday.

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