The long struggle to establish Martin Luther King Jr. Day

By TERRY TANG
The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his iconic “I Have a Dream” speech in 1963 on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. He chose that location in part to honor President Abraham Lincoln as “a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today.” Now, millions of people honor King in the same way.
On the third Monday of January — close to King’s Jan. 15 birthday — federal, state and local governments, institutions and various industries re