Marking the 30th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr. Day


Monday marks the 30th anniversary of the day the nation pauses to remember and honor the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

The January holiday came to be in 1983 after Congress passed a bill and President Ronald Reagan signed it to set aside the third Monday in January to remember the civil rights pioneer, CNN reported.

Despite being signed in 1983, it officially started in 1986.

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But not all states took the day to remember King's life.

Arizona, according to CNN, lost the chance to host a Super Bowl, while South Carolina became the last state to recognize the day in 2000.

Despite the federal holiday designation, Bloomberg found that many Americans would be working Monday.

Only 30 to 37 percent of workers have had a paid holiday for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day over the past five years.

That's about the same as President's Day and less than the non-federal holidays of the Friday after Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve, Bloomberg found.

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