How Did Martin Luther King Jr. Get a Holiday?
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Did you know Martin Luther King Jr Day wasn’t celebrated in all 50 states until 2000? And that in order to create the holiday honoring the civil rights leader we needed help from Stevie Wonder and the National Football League. Why was this the case? Well MLK Jr, wasn’t beloved by everyone during his life and winning the battle to create a holiday in his honor took a lot of work. How did it all happen? Watch the episode to find out.
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Written and Hosted By: Danielle Bainbridge
Graphics By: Noelle Smith
Directed By: Andrew Kornhaber
Produced By: Kornhaber Brown (www.kornhaberbrown.com)
Works Cited:
Citations:
Radical King Cornel West
http://www.nytimes.com/1964/06/16/dr-king-receives-a-degree-at-yale.html?_r=0
Martin Luther King, Jr. “Beyond Vietnam”
http://www.history.com/news/10-things-you-may-not-know-about-martin-luther-king-jr
Origins of MLK Day:
http://www.thekingcenter.org/making-king-holiday
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/opinions/articles/helms_stalls_kings_day.html
https://www.npr.org/2011/01/17/132942445/Historian-Assesses-Where-Does-MLKs-Dream-Stand-Today
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2016/01/16/martin-luther-king-junior-holiday-federal-monday-january-stevie-wonder/78844042/
https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/16/magazine/what-an-uncensored-letter-to-mlk-reveals.html?_r=0
Costs of creating a federal holiday
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/what-does-it-take-to-create-a-holiday-its-all-politics-but-stevie-wonder-can-help/2014/10/12/9bbb0cc2-508f-11e4-babe-e91da079cb8a_story.html?utm_term=.8f4deab5a08e
https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R41990.pdf
https://www.senate.gov/reference/resources/pdf/Federal_Holidays.pdf
Stevie Wonder’s Happy Birthday song
http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/wonder_week/2016/12/stevie_wonder_wrote_the_black_happy_birthday_song.html
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2016/01/16/martin-luther-king-junior-holiday-federal-monday-january-stevie-wonder/78844042/
Robert E Lee and other adjacent Confederate holidays
https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/01/martin-luther-king-jr-day-robert-e-lee-birthday-holiday/
Labor Union Support for a federal holiday
https://www.thenation.com/article/working-class-hero/
Arizona Being the Last State to officially recognize the holiday (NFL protests)
http://www.thekingcenter.org/making-king-holiday
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/early-lead/wp/2014/02/26/why-the-nfl-moved-the-super-bowl-from-arizona-in-1990/?utm_term=.646a006ce168
https://sports.vice.com/en_ca/article/ezed9e/throwback-thursday-the-nfl-takes-the-super-bowl-away-from-arizona
https://www.upi.com/Some-states-boycotted-MLK-Day-at-first/57461358775502/
Mental health and black activism:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/side-effects/201005/how-schizophrenia-became-black-disease-interview-jonathan-metzl
http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2014/11/12/fbi_martin_luther_king_jr_letter_suicide_suggested_over_affairs.html
On Santa’s Reindeer:
http://www.history.com/topics/christmas/santa-claus
https://www.npr.org/2013/12/25/256579598/writing-rudolph-the-original-red-nosed-manuscript
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43171/a-visit-from-st-nicholas
http://www.syracuse.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2015/12/reindeer_names_origins.html
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/where-santa-claus-live-hometown-north-pole-180953723/
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