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.

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.

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.

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 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. In 1987, Gov. Evan Mecham fulfilled a promise to ...

It’s been 61 years since Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., made a memorable visit to the Arizona State University campus in downtown Tempe, delivering a speech that has come to

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.

While it is now a time-honored tradition, the establishment of Martin Luther King Jr. Day had a prolonged, difficult path to acceptance.

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.

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.

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It would be 17 more years until all 50 states observed it. 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 Evan Mecham rescinded his predecessor's executive order enacting a state holiday in Arizona.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 ...