Martin Luther King, Jr, Day – Capital Pawn

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Beth Anundi

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January 17, 2014

Glimpses of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

In honor of Martin Luther King, JR, Day, Capital Pawn will be CLOSED

Monday January 20, 2014 is a Federal Holiday

Being closed will allow our Team Members to rest with their friends and family

We hope you are able to rest and enjoy a day free from work and a hectic schedule. Below you can find one history of how the day off became a holiday. Enjoy and Capital Pawn will be open for regular business hours on Tuesday, January 21. Of course, you can shop Capital Pawn 24/7 at our eBay and Amazon stores.

Normal Business Hours:

Monday-Friday: 10am-6pm
Saturday: 10am-5pm
Sunday: REST

The History of Martin Luther King Day

Who originated the idea of a national holiday in honor of MLK?

by Shmuel Ross and David Johnson
Read more: Martin Luther King, Jr., Holiday | Infoplease.com http://www.infoplease.com/spot/mlkhistory1.html#ixzz2qgNDUHrX

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.
Read more: Martin Luther King, Jr., Holiday | Infoplease.com http://www.infoplease.com/spot/mlkhistory1.html#ixzz2qgKYGf7L