January 14 observance is open to public
On January 14, the eve of the national holiday honoring international Civil Rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the Katie Hall Educational Foundation, Inc., will host the “38th Anniversary of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. National Holiday Law Observance.” The program will be at Van Buren Missionary Baptist Church, 2585 Van Buren St., in Gary; Reverend Dr. Dwight E. Mobley, Sr., is pastor.
The event is at 3 p.m., doors open at 2:30 p.m. Admission is free and open to the public.
The Honorable Eddie D. Melton, Mayor of the City of Gary, will deliver the keynote address.
The “King Bill” was authored and introduced by U.S. Representative Katie Hall of Indiana’s First Congressional District, including the city of Gary and surrounding communities, as House of Representatives Bill, H.R. 3345 on June 16, 1983, with 60 co-sponsors.
Subsequently, this legislation was authored and re-introduced by U.S. Representative Hall as House of Representatives Bill H.R. 3706 on July 29, 1983, with 108 co-sponsors, during the 98th Congress.
Paraphrased, H.R. 3706 simply read, “On the third Monday in January, a legal holiday shall be established in the United States of America in honor of the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
H.R. 3706 was assigned to the Post Office and Civil Service Committee and to the Sub-Committee on Population and Census, chaired by U.S. Representative Hall.
On August 2, 1983, U.S. Representative Hall “called up” H.R. 3706 on the House floor using the traditional procedure under a suspension of the rules by stating, “Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill, to amend Title 5, United States Code, to make the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr., a legal public holiday.”
H.R. 3706 was passed in the U.S. House of Representatives by an overwhelming vote of 338-90, 53 votes more than the two-thirds necessary for passage, under a suspension of the rules (and for overriding a veto if necessary).
Thirty-five House members who had voted against the bill in 1979 switched to support the bill in 1983, including 26 Republicans.
The first national observance of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. National Holiday Law was held January, 1986.
After the House vote, Floor Manager U.S. Representative Hall told reporters, “Men and women of good will on both sides of the aisle showed this was a human concern, not a political or racial issue.”
She also credited the House Democratic leadership for helping to get the “King Bill” passed through the United States Congress.
Then-Speaker of the House, Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neil (D-MA), commented during the debate, “Dr. King changed America, all of America. He changed it not by a force of arms, but by moral force.”
Further, U.S. Representative Hall stated on passage of her version of the “King Bill,” that, “Martin Luther King, Jr., gave to this great country a new understanding of equality and justice for all….”
Despite Dr. King’s outstanding achievements as the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize winner, distinguished Civil Rights leader, Southern Baptist preacher, and gifted orator, the “King Bill” was hotly debated in the United States Senate. Segregationists such as United States Senators Jesse Helms (R-NC) and John East (R-NC) did not want Dr. King elevated to the same national status as George Washington (America’s first president) and Christopher Columbus. Helms considered Dr. King a communist.
The United States Senate passed the “King Bill” October 19, 1983, with Democrats voting 41-4 in favor of the bill and Republicans voting 37-18 in favor. The final vote was 79 in favor and 22 against.
Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA) was the Chief Senate sponsor of the “King Bill” with Senators Lugar and Quayle, both Republicans of Indiana, voting in favor of the Bill.
Representative Hall asked President Ronald Reagan to host the “Signing Ceremony” in the Rose Garden at the White House. The President approved Hall’s request and on Wednesday, November 2, 1983, Reagan signed H.R. 3706 into federal law.
Thus, U.S. Representative Hall changed the course of American and world history by authoring and introducing federal legislation in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
King became the first and only African American to date, in the history of the United States Congress, to be honored with a national holiday and a national holiday in his name alone. Not even Presidents Washington and Lincoln merit this distinction.
For more information on the January 14 program, contact Junifer Hall at [email protected], or the Law Office of John Henry Hall at (219) 883-7711, or Van Buren Missionary Baptist Church at (219) 886-2541.
Then-Indiana State Senator Katie Hall (3rd District) was the first African American, male or female, elected to serve in the United States Congress from the State of Indiana.
