A bill proposing a federal holiday honoring Martin Luther King Jr. was first introduced in 1968. Martin Luther King Jr. Day is the second federal holiday of every calendar year (after New Year's Day). The first time Martin Luther King Jr. Day was officially observed was in 1986, according to Time. AdvertisementSouth Carolina became the last state, in 2000, to officially designate Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a federal holiday. As part of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, public schools and universities are closed, and it's a bank holiday.

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Persons: Martin Luther King Jr, Ronald Reagan, —, that's, Holiday Bill, King, . King, Bill, John Conyers of, Congressional Black Caucus —, Republican Sen, Edward Brooke of Massachusetts, didn't, Stevie Wonder, Robert E, Lee, George Washington, Christopher Columbus, Conyers Organizations: Service, MLK, National Museum of, Democratic Rep, Congressional Black Caucus, Republican, Confederate, USPS Locations: Memphis , Tennessee, Memphis, John Conyers of Michigan, Washington, Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi