Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Martin Luther King Jr. Day
King in 1965
Official name	Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Also called	MLK Day, King Day, Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day
Type	Federal
Date	Third Monday in January
2023 date	January 16  (2023-01-16)
2024 date	January 15  (2024-01-15)
2025 date	January 20  (2025-01-20)
2026 date	January 19  (2026-01-19)
Frequency	Annual
First time	1986; 38 years ago (1986)

This article is part of a series about Martin Luther King Jr.
Biography Sermons and speeches Campaigns Montgomery bus boycott Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom Youth March for Integrated Schools Albany Movement Birmingham campaign Walk to Freedom March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom St. Augustine movement Selma to Montgomery marches Chicago Open Housing Movement March Against Fear Memphis sanitation strike Poor People's Campaign Death and memorial Assassination Funeral American federal holiday passage National memorial National Historical Park
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Martin Luther King Jr. Day (officially Birthday of Martin Luther King Jr.,^[1] and often referred to shorthand as MLK Day) is a federal holiday in the United States observed on the third Monday of January each year. King was chief spokesperson for nonviolent activism in the Civil Rights Movement, which protested racial discrimination in federal and state law and civil society. The movement led to several groundbreaking legislative reforms in the United States.

Born in 1929, Martin Luther King Jr.'s actual birthday is January 15 (which in 1929 fell on a Tuesday). The earliest Monday for this holiday is January 15 and the latest is January 21. The Monday observance is similar for those federal holidays which fall under the Uniform Monday Holiday Act.

The campaign for a federal holiday in King's honor began soon after his assassination in 1968. President Ronald Reagan signed the holiday into law in 1983, and it was first observed three years later on January 20, 1986. At first, some states resisted observing the holiday as such, giving it alternative names or combining it with other holidays. Official observance in each state's law as well as federal law occurred in 2000.