January 16, 2023 – MLK Jr Day

Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day! Today is the day that we honor the civil rights leader and mark his birthday. His actual birthday is January 15, but we celebrate MLK Jr Day on the third Monday in January every year. Dr. King was the first modern private citizen to be honored with a federal holiday in 1983. The only other two people with national holidays are George Washington and Christopher Columbus. The first push for a holiday to honor Dr. King came just 4 days after his assassination. U.S. Representative John Conyer, a democrat from Michigan, introduced legislation for the holiday in every session from 1968 to 1983. With legislation stalled, the King Center turned to support from the corporate world and from the general public. Stevie Wonder got involved in the effort in the early 1980s, releasing the song “Happy Birthday” to help popularize the campaign. The song was a hit, and Wonder worked with Coretta Scott King to deliver a petition with 6 million signatures in favor of the holiday to the speaker of the house in 1983. The bill making Martin Luther King Jr. Day a holiday finally passed in 1983 and was signed into law by President Ronald Reagan. It was first observed on January 20, 1986, but it took until 2000 for all 50 states to officially observe the holiday. Learn more here.