Question

In 1983 President Reagan signed this bill making it a law that Martin Luther King would have a national holiday in January. How many signatures were collected to show Congress that many people wanted this day to exist?

Answer 1

The King Center kept up its efforts. It organized a march on Washington that included an estimated 500,000 people. Coretta Scott King, along with Wonder, presented a petition signed by 6 million people to House leader Tip O'Neill. The House took up the bill in 1983 and it passed by 53 votes.