Working on MLK Day? You're Not Alone.

If you are reading this from a cubicle, then your company doesn’t include Martin Luther King Jr. Day among its national holidays. You are not alone.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day holds an unusual place among the nation’s holidays because it is the only holiday in honor of an individual American who was not a president, and not everyone recognizes it. It is a bank holiday, but most businesses don’t include the day among their holiday days off.

According this the AP-GfK poll, 30 percent of Americans plan to celebrate the holiday this year, but 24 percent of the respondents don’t believe the nation should have a holiday in honor of King.

Locally, Glendale federal offices along with schools in Montrose and La Crescenta will be closed. Banks and post offices, like the on Honolulu Avenue and the will also be closed.

However, if you are working, and you’re looking to give yourself a mini-holiday from the job, here is a brief history about this holiday from the nonprofit King Center.

• April 8, 1968 – Legislation providing for a federal Martin Luther King Jr. Day is introduced just four days after King’s assassination.
• April 1971 – A 3-million signature petition is submitted to congress seeking a national holiday in honor of King, but no action is taken.
• 1973 – Washington becomes the first state to establish a state holiday in honor of King.
• 1979 – King’s widow, Coretta Scott King, testifies before Congress on behalf of a holiday, but legislation to establish a King holiday fails by five votes.
• 1980 – Stevie Wonder urges a King holiday with the song, “Happy Birthday.”
• 1982 – Wonder and King submit a 6-million signature petition to congress, urging a national King holiday.
• 1983 – Congress passes a bill establishing the holiday and President Reagan signs it into law.
• 1989 – 44 states honor the national holiday.
• 2000 – South Carolina became the last state to recognize the national holiday.