Representative John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI), the longest-serving African American member of Congress and the third-longest serving member of the U.S. House of Representatives, served in the House for over 52 years. His first employment on Capitol Hill was as a staff member in the office of Representative John Dingell (D-MI). Conyers was elected to the House in 1965 and was re-elected every Congress until his retirement in 2017. While in Congress, Conyers served as chairman of the House Committee on Government Operations (101st through 103rd Congresses) and the House Committee on the Judiciary (110th and 111th Congresses), and was known as the dean of the Congressional Black Caucus, an organization he helped found.
On April 8, 1968, four days after Martin Luther King, Jr.’s assassination, Representative Conyers introduced a bill proposing King’s birthday be celebrated as a national holiday. Conyers continued to push the legislation for the next 15 years until it was signed into law by President Reagan in 1983, a legislative victory Conyers was particularly proud of.
Representative Conyers died on October 27, 2019, at the age of 90.
Certificate of Election for John Conyers, Jr., Representative of Michigan, 12/8/1964; Records of the Office of the Clerk, 89th Congress, U. S. House of Representatives, Record Group 233; National Archives.
H .R. 16510, A bill to designate the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. as a legal public holiday, 4/8/1968; Judiciary Committee, Legislative Files, Public Bills, 90th Congress, U.S. House of Representatives, Record Group 233; National Archives.