The article outlines Arizona's contentious history with recognizing Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a state holiday and the eventual voter approval in 1992.

Arizona didn't celebrate Martin Luther King Day until 1993, a decade after it became a federal holiday. Here's how the Super Bowl played a role.

Arizona was one of the last states to recognize Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a holiday and the only state that required a public vote to do so.

I'd never had a white person talk to me like that,' Warren Stewart Sr. says, recalling the late Gov. Evan Mecham and the Arizona battle over MLK Day.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day is recognized across the nation, both as a state and national holiday, on the civil rights activist’s birthday, Jan. 20. The day serves as an

The measure passed overwhelmingly and Arizona became the first state to approve an MLK holiday by a public vote. The NFL later picked Arizona to host the 1996 Super Bowl.

It took a long and contentious fight to make Martin Luther King Jr. Day a state holiday in Arizona. The big picture: The movement to carve out a day to honor King began shortly after his 1968 assassination.

It took a long political effort to make the King Holiday commemoration a federal law. ATLANTA — The MLK Day holiday is marked annually as a day of service and remembrance of the struggle for justice, equality and the Beloved Community that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. made his life's work.

In 1983, about 20 years after King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, legislation for a Martin Luther King Jr. Day cleared Congress, and President Ronald Reagan signed it.

As the nation recognizes Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, a traditional celebration will take place locally. The 2025 MLK Day Beloved Community Commemorative Service kicks off at 9 a.m. on Monday, and you can watch it live from home.

Most of the foot-dragging came from the South — except for Arizona. Then in 1987, Gov. Evan Mecham rescinded his predecessor's executive order enacting a state holiday in Arizona. “He said ...

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