NEW YORK—On Monday, Americans across the country celebrated Martin Luther King Jr. Day—always on the third Monday in January, a day to honor the life of the Civil Rights hero who changed the United States for better. Dr. King was assassinated in 1968, but wasn’t necessarily hailed as a hero by all right away—in fact, it was a long road to celebrating him with an annual federal holiday. History.com reports that Dr. King was “the first modern private citizen to be honored with a federal holiday,” with the first big push to create a holiday in honor of him coming just a few days after his assassination. Here, we take a look at how the federal holiday came about. Read More