{"id":110,"date":"2017-01-17T13:28:31","date_gmt":"2017-01-17T18:28:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/yesterdays-news\/?p=110"},"modified":"2018-01-03T11:45:26","modified_gmt":"2018-01-03T16:45:26","slug":"first-mlk-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/yesterdays-news\/2017\/01\/17\/first-mlk-day\/","title":{"rendered":"January 20, 1986: The first Martin Luther King, Jr. Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yesterday UNT, along with other state institutions, observed Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. President Ronald Reagan signed the King Holiday Bill into law on Nov. 2, 1983. Dr. King’s widow, Coretta Scott King, stated upon the bill’s ratification that “This is not a black holiday; it is a people’s holiday.” Martin Luther King, Jr. Day was observed for the first time in the United States three years later on January 20, 1986.\u00a0Many states, including Texas, did not initially observe the paid holiday in 1986. In fact, MLK Day\u00a0was not observed by every U.S. state until the year 2000. Today some states observe the holiday\u00a0under a different name (it’s known as “Human Rights Day” in Idaho and “Martin Luther King, Jr. Civil Rights Day” in Arizona and New Hampshire) or combine the holiday with memorials for\u00a0confederate generals Robert E. Lee and Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson (Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Virginia).\u00a0A recent New York Times<\/em> article<\/a>\u00a0proves that the holiday is still contested more than thirty years after its implementation.<\/p>\r\n

On January 20, 1986, KXAS reporter Ramona Logan reported on Dallas-Forth Worth\u00a0residents’ reactions to the day for the 6:00 news.\u00a0Some Texas employees chose to take a vacation day in honor of Dr. King, while others chose to honor his memory through their vocations. Dallas schools closed for the day but Fort Worth schools remained open.<\/p>\r\n