Martin Luther King Birthday and the Civil Rights Movement

In my Public Policy textbook I cite the civil rights movement as perhaps the most important social movement of the 20th century. With that in mind, this interesting article from the Raleigh News and Observer provides some context in North Carolina. These sort of stories are, of course, very common around the Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday, but the accumulation of these stories is a worthwhile way for younger people to learn about this movement, and for older people to remember their roles, however big or small, in that movement.

Indeed, the struggle to make MLK's birthday a national holiday would, itself, be an interesting case study. I will see if I can find a good treatment of this debate.