Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

 

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Martin Luther King Jr. Day came to pass with the help of the Uniform Monday Holiday Act. Signed into law in 1968, it was designed to increase the number of three-day weekends for federal employees, moving fixed date holidays to designated Mondays. We also owe the holiday to the unremembered efforts of labor unions. In a wave of strikes during the 1970s, labor workers nationwide risked their jobs to celebrate the legacy of Dr. King, whose own interests were deeply rooted in labor issues. In fact, his assassination took place on a visit to support black sanitation workers on strike in Memphis, Tennessee. The image above features labor leader and civil rights activist Cesar Chavez honoring King in a 1968 memorial at the Los Angeles Coliseum, decades before his 1990 speech "Lessons of Dr. Martin Luther King." The grassroots campaign to keep the Dr. King holiday relevant has resurfaced with the national MLK Day of Service, designated by Congress in 1994 to coincide with the holiday. Perhaps the history of the holiday itself--the many voices that kept a campaign alive for 15 years--can inspire us as a reminder of the power and endurance of masses.