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Visualizing State Recognition of MLK Jr. Day

arati_mejdal

Martin Luther King Jr.Martin Luther King Jr Day is observed in the US on the third Monday of January each year. It honors the legacy and memory of civil rights leader Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., whose actual birthday is Jan. 15. Learn more about King at the King Center website or Wikipedia.

MLK Jr. Day became a federal holiday in 1983, but not all states recognized the day right away.

How long each state has recognized MLK Jr. Day.

New Hampshire and Utah waited until 1999 and 2000, respectively. Some states, like Connecticut and Illinois, were trailblazers, recognizing the day a decade earlier, in 1973. One state, Arizona, has the unique dishonor of recognizing it in 1986 and then de-recognizing it a year later! Arizona later re-recognized the day by referendum in 1992.

Timeline of state recognition of MLK Jr. Day.

The road to 50-state recognition.I (@arati_mejdal) posted a set of four data visualizations at JMP Public, with the help of @XanGregg and @Peter_Polito: a bubble plot, map, bar graph and line graph. Each visualization highlights a different aspect of the story of state recognition of the day. The bubble plot, for instance, shows the flip-flopping of Arizona on this issue.

Check out the visualizations and also let us know, if you're in the US, how you are planning to mark MLK Jr. Day.

MLK Jr. photo credit (from Wikipedia): By Nobel Foundation - Description page (direct link), Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9719576

Comments

Peter_Polito

Here is a little history on Arizona, how the flip-flop came to pass, and one of the major fiscal consequences.

arati_mejdal

Thanks for sharing the story on that Arizona flip-flop, @Peter_Polito !

Diana_Levey

I love this so much. It's important information to have, and the various graphs show the same info in different ways, which is excellent if you're trying to help non-statistical folks see the beauty of the different types of data visualizations. Also, wow, Arizona. And Utah and New Hampshire. Ugh.

arati_mejdal

Sadly, the rising number of COVID cases right now has made in-person volunteer service activities on Jan. 17 scarce or impossible to find. The project I had planned to work on was canceled. So instead, I will spend the day reading this book: "Equity: How to Design Organizations Where Everyone Thrives." equity book.jpeg

calking

Thanks Arati! If you don't mind, here's a fifth visualization I was able to make from your JMP Public data. A "gif"t, so to speak :-). I wasn't able to figure out how to remove the Local Data Filter from the image, but it's a nice hint as to how I made it.

arati_mejdal

I love the visualization you made, @calking! Thanks for the "gif"t

gail_massari

Blood supply is low everywhere so I am donating on MLK Day, assuming there is no snow and ice. Day off from work is a good excuse to do something I wanted to do, but had put off. SAS colleague I swim with at SAS pool motivated me. Thanks, Ann!