Arizona was one of the last states to recognize Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a holiday and the only state that required a public vote to do so.

It took a long and contentious fight to make Martin Luther King Jr. Day a state holiday in Arizona. The big picture: The movement to carve out a day to honor King began shortly after his 1968 assassination.

Arizona didn't celebrate Martin Luther King Day until 1993, a decade after it became a federal holiday. Here's how the Super Bowl played a role.

A MLK Jr. Walk on Monday will provide an opportunity for reflection from the Heartland Conservation Alliance and KC Parks. It will begin at 9 a.m. at MLK Jr. Square Park at Woodland Avenue and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in Kansas City, and end at the Bruce R. Watkins Cultural Heritage Center, 3700 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.

Arizona was one of the last states to recognize Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a holiday ... order from former Gov. Bruce Babbitt that would have made MLK Day an Arizona holiday.

Texas officially recognized MLK Day in 1991. Today, it remains the only federal holiday designated as a national day of service.

Numerous Hampton Roads organizations have planned events and charity efforts in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

On the evening of April 3, 1968, the day before he was assassinated, Martin Luther King Jr. spoke to Memphis sanitation workers, who were in the midst of a protracted strike against the city. This is the speech that concluded with the magnificent “I’ve been to the mountaintop” oration,

I’m using the arts of civil and human rights in the spirit of Martin Luther King Jr. and Stevie Wonder to block out the anxiety of today.

In 1983, about 20 years after King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, legislation for a Martin Luther King Jr. Day cleared Congress, and President Ronald Reagan signed it.

Detroiters like Stevie Wonder and John Conyers were instrumental in making Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday a federal holiday.

Professional basketball has long evoked the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Bill Russell stood with the civil rights leader during the March on Washington, while Oscar Robertson helped organize a memorial game for King’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference in the wake of his assassination.