I <3 MLK JR DAY

Lets state some much needed facts ....today was his Birthday he was born Jan 15th of 1929 in atlanta Georgia. That lucky guy.Well educated and earned a doctorate degree from Boston University.He also met his Wife Coretta Scott when attending Boston. Then became a pastor in Montgomery Alabama. When Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat MLK Jr organized a successful Bus Boycott for 382 days.1963 he made his famous "I HAVE A DREAM " speach in Washington D.C. Next in 1964 he won the Nobel peace prize and became the youngest person to be granted the honor he was awarded prize money which he gave to the Civil Rights Movement. He appeared on Time magazine as Man of the year making him also the first Afrian American on the cover.April 4, 1968, while standing on the balcony of his motel room in Memphis, Tennessee, where he was prepairing to lead a protest march for striking garbage workers of that city, he was assassinated.

About just the holiday... http://www.infoplease.com/spot/mlkhistory1.html

It took 15 years to create the federal Martin Luther King, Jr., holiday. Congressman John Conyers, Democrat from Michigan, first introduced legislation for a commemorative holiday four days after King was assassinated in 1968. After the bill became stalled, petitions endorsing the holiday containing six million names were submitted to Congress.

Conyers and Rep. Shirley Chisholm, Democrat of New York, resubmitted King holiday legislation each subsequent legislative session. Public pressure for the holiday mounted during the 1982 and 1983 civil rights marches in Washington.

Congress passed the holiday legislation in 1983, which was then signed into law by President Ronald Reagan. A compromise moving the holiday from Jan. 15, King's birthday, which was considered too close to Christmas and New Year's, to the third Monday in January helped overcome opposition to the law.

National Consensus on the Holiday

A number of states resisted celebrating the holiday. Some opponents said King did not deserve his own holiday—contending that the entire civil rights movement rather than one individual, however instrumental, should be honored. Several southern states include celebrations for various Confederate generals on that day. Arizona voters approved the holiday in 1992 after a tourist boycott. In 1999, New Hampshire changed the name of Civil Rights Day to Martin Luther King, Jr., Day.

MLK Holiday Timeline
1968	Martin Luther King, Jr. assassinated; Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., introduces legislation for federal holiday to commemorate King
1973	Illinois is first state to adopt MLK Day as a state holiday
1983	Congress passes, President Reagan signs, legislation creating Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
1986	Federal MLK holiday goes into effect
1987	Arizona governor Evan Mecham rescinds MLK Day as his first act in office, setting off a boycott of the state.
1989	State MLK holiday adopted in 44 states
1991	The NFL moves the 1993 Super Bowl site from Phoenix, Ariz., to Pasadena, Calif., because of the MLK Day boycott.
1992	Arizona citizens vote to enact MLK Day. The Super Bowl is held in Tempe, Ariz. in 1996.
1993	For the first time, MLK Day is held in some form—sometimes under a different name, and not always as a paid state holiday—in all fifty states.
1999	New Hampshire becomes the last state to adopt MLK Day as a paid state holiday, replacing its optional Civil Rights Day.
2000	Utah becomes the last state to recognize MLK Day by name, renaming its Human Rights Day state holiday. South Carolina becomes the last state to make MLK Day a paid holiday for all state employees. Until now, employees could choose between celebrating it or one of three Confederate-related holidays.

***Okay all that being done I also want to mention new drink of choice Black Cherry Vanilla coke! Its so wonderful.The bubbles just splash my tastebuds in all the right places.