In April 1968, just four days after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., Conyers introduced the first of many bills to establish a federal holiday in King’s honour. A bill creating the holiday was finally signed into law by Pres. Ronald Reagan in 1983.

Jan 20, 2025 · Four days after his assassination, U.S. Rep. John Conyers, D-Detroit, introduced a bill in the Congress to recognize King’s birthday as a national holiday. Conyers, a former labor attorney,...

Jan 18, 2015 · Four days after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., a junior member of Congress introduced a bill to establish a federal holiday to honor the slain civil rights leader. Five...

Jan 12, 2023 · Conyers was not only one of the few black men in Congress at the time but happened to be active in the civil rights movement, attending one of Martin Luther King’s biggest marches on Freedom Day in 1965.

Jan 10, 2018 · John Conyers, then a Democratic Congressman from Michigan, took to the floor of Congress to insist on a federal holiday in King’s honor. However, the request fell on deaf ears. One of the few...

Jan 16, 2023 · Democratic Michigan Rep. John Conyers was the first to introduce a bill to recognize King's birthday as a national holiday on Apr. 8, 1968, just four days after he was assassinated, according...

On April 8, 1968, just four days after Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, Congressman John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.) introduced the first bill to establish January 15th, the slain leader’s birthday, as a Federal holiday.

Jan 20, 2020 · But the desire to pay tribute to King with a federal holiday came just days after his assassination in 1968. It was the idea of John Conyers Jr., a Democrat then in his first-term representing...

John Conyers became the longest-serving African American in congress, co-founded the Congressional Black Caucus and helped to create a national holiday in the name of the Rev Martin Luther...

Oct 28, 2019 · One of Conyers’ crowning achievements came 36 years ago this week, when President Ronald Reagan signed legislation creating a national holiday honoring Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday. The...