Toward the Fulfillment of the Dream :: California Secretary of State

Though U.S. Congressmember John Conyers first called for a federal holiday to honor this great civil rights leader shortly after King’s assassination in 1968, it wasn’t until 1983 that this goal became reality, thanks to Conyers’s persistence, the Congressional Black Caucus’s support, and popular demand.

Things moved more swiftly on the state level: in 1973, Illinois became the first state to declare a Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday, and in 1981, California followed suit, thanks to legislation written by Assemblymember Elihu Harris, a Democrat representing several Bay Area cities. The button shown here, an artifact from our collection of Harris’s papers, was worn by several officials when Governor Brown signed the bill into law.

Harris began his political career as a legislative assistant to Yvonne Brathwaite Burke, who in 1966 became the first African American woman elected to the California Assembly. In 1978, Harris was himself elected to the Assembly, where he served for 12 years, focusing on civil rights, criminal justice, poverty, tax reform, and transportation issues. He then went on to serve as Mayor of Oakland from 1991-1999 and as Chancellor of the Peralta Community College District from 2003-2010.

Governor Brown signing legislation to establish Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, 1981, Photographs. Elihu Harris Papers, LP366:389, California State Archives, Office of the Secretary of State, Sacramento.