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.

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.

The measure passed overwhelmingly and Arizona became the first state to approve an MLK holiday by a public vote. The NFL later picked Arizona to host the 1996 Super Bowl.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day is recognized across the nation, both as a state and national holiday, on the civil rights activist’s birthday, Jan. 20. The day serves as an

I'd never had a white person talk to me like that,' Warren Stewart Sr. says, recalling the late Gov. Evan Mecham and the Arizona battle over MLK Day.

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.