In January, 1981, the Western New England community came together to commemorate the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr.  The event, led by the Minority Group Alliance, featured a march, memorial service, and speakers from the Western New England campus, as well as the wider Springfield community.

After the service, the Minority Group Alliance submitted a proposal to designate January 15th as a school holiday.  We’re not sure what became of this proposal, but fortunately within a few years, in 1983, Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday was made a federal holiday, with the first observed holiday in 1986.

Click here to see the entire issue of the January 29, 1981 issue of The Westerner.

And remember, you can read all of our digitized school newspapers on the Internet Archive.