Martin Luther King Jr. Day – January 16th

Stevie Wonder, along with Harry Belafonte, Aretha Franklin, Eartha Kitt, Diana Ross, Sidney Poitier, Marlon Brando and many other influential people attended King’s funeral in 1968 as well as Bob Marley, who was one of the drivers of the idea of a national holiday honoring King. There was the birth of the idea of a campaign to forward the idea. And, the labor unions got behind it. But when a bill came to a vote in Congress, it fell short of the needed votes to pass it. Later, the corporate community, along with committed people like singer/song writer Stevie Wonder (pictured below), who released the song “Happy Birthday,” popularized the concept: Wonder traveled the country and hosted a 1980 Rally for Peace where he promoted a petition that ultimately was signed by 6,000,000, a petition that helped to win Congress over to create a federal holiday honoring King. It was not until 1986 that the holiday was finally observed for the first time. But, it took until the year 2000, that Martin Luther King Day was observed by all 50 states. You may want to take a moment on MLK Day to see and listen to a short video about the song “We Shall Overcome.” It’s less than 9 minutes.) And, it can be found on “Youtube.com