Martin Luther King Jr. Day, celebrated on the third Monday of January, is more than a federal holiday; it is a day of service and reflection dedicated to honoring the legacy of one of the most influential leaders in civil rights history. The day coincides with King’s January 15 birthday and encourages Americans to embrace his principles of equality, justice, and nonviolent activism.
The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1963 “I Have a Dream” speech, delivered on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, remains a defining moment in the fight for civil rights. King deliberately chose that location to honor President Abraham Lincoln, saying, “A great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today.” Today, millions gather in that same symbolic shadow, remembering King’s dream and the fight for a more just society.
The Struggle to Establish MLK Day
The journey to make Martin Luther King Jr. Day a federal holiday was long and contentious. Just four days after King’s assassination in 1968, U.S. Representative John Conyers introduced legislation to honor him with a national holiday. However, gaining widespread support proved challenging. King’s advocacy for economic justice, affordable housing, and opposition to the Vietnam War had made him a polarizing figure. Polls at the time showed that many Americans viewed him as “too radical.”
Despite these challenges, Conyers and the Congressional Black Caucus fought tirelessly for years to push the legislation forward. Coretta Scott King, King’s widow, worked to keep his legacy alive, lobbying for support and raising awareness. In 1980, Stevie Wonder amplified the movement by releasing his song “Happy Birthday,” dedicated to King, which became a rallying cry for the holiday.
The Turning Point
By the 1980s, America was reflecting on its progress in civil rights and regretting the Vietnam War’s divisive impact. Public opinion began shifting in King’s favor, and the movement gained traction. Finally, in 1983, 15 years after King’s death, President Ronald Reagan signed the bill into law, establishing Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a federal holiday to be observed on the third Monday of January.
However, the fight didn’t end there. Many states resisted recognizing the holiday. Southern states, in particular, delayed adoption, citing a range of excuses from financial concerns to outright opposition. Arizona’s resistance became infamous when Governor Evan Mecham repealed the state’s recognition of the holiday in 1987, claiming, “Black people don’t need a holiday. They need jobs.” This decision sparked widespread protests, celebrity boycotts, and economic losses, including Arizona’s opportunity to host the Super Bowl. After years of activism and public pressure, Arizona reinstated the holiday in 1992 via voter initiative.
South Carolina was the last state to adopt the holiday in 2000, though controversially, it also allowed observance of Confederate Memorial Day. These battles highlighted the enduring struggles for racial equity and justice, even in celebrating a man whose life was dedicated to those ideals.
A Day of Service and Action
Unlike other holidays, Martin Luther King Jr. Day is designed as a “day on, not a day off.” In 1994, Congressman John Lewis and Senator Harris Wofford introduced legislation, signed into law by President Bill Clinton, designating it as a National Day of Service. Across the country, communities commemorate King’s legacy through acts of kindness, service projects, and civic engagement.
Major cities and suburbs host parades, concerts, and festivals, while volunteers engage in activities like community clean-ups, food distribution, and blood donation drives. Organizations like AmeriCorps have invested millions of dollars into nonprofits and community programs, enabling hundreds of thousands to participate annually. CEO Michael Smith notes that the holiday serves as a spark, inspiring year-round service.
Carrying King’s Vision Forward
King’s family, including his daughter, Rev. Bernice King, continues to advocate for his principles. She urges people to go beyond quoting King’s famous speeches, calling for daily action rooted in nonviolence and justice. Scholars like Lerone Martin, director of the Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford University, emphasize the importance of engaging with King’s writings, such as his 1963 “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” to better understand his philosophy and mission.
Reflecting on King’s legacy isn’t just about remembering his achievements; it’s about carrying his vision into the future. As Martin says, “We can arm ourselves with his ideals. We can continue to have a conversation with him—not just on one day but throughout the year.”
Martin Luther King Jr. Day stands as a powerful reminder of the work still to be done. It challenges us to move from “symbol to substance,” transforming the ideals of liberty and justice into everyday action. By honoring King’s legacy through service, education, and advocacy, Americans can ensure his dream remains alive for generations to come.
10 Things You May Not Know About Martin Luther King Jr.
1. King’s Birth Name Was Michael, Not Martin
King was born Michael King Jr. on January 15, 1929. In 1934, however, his father, a pastor at Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church, traveled to Germany and became inspired by the Protestant Reformation leader Martin Luther. As a result, King Sr. changed his own name as well as that of his five-year-old son.
2. King Entered College At the Age of 15
King was such a gifted student that he skipped grades nine and 12 before enrolling in 1944 at Morehouse College, the alma mater of his father and maternal grandfather. Although he was the son, grandson and great-grandson of Baptist ministers, King did not intend to follow the family vocation until Morehouse president Benjamin E. Mays, a noted theologian, convinced him otherwise. King was ordained before graduating college with a degree in sociology.
3. King Received His Doctorate in Systematic Theology
After earning a divinity degree from Pennsylvania’s Crozer Theological Seminary, King attended graduate school at Boston University, where he received his Ph.D. degree in 1955. The title of his dissertation was “A Comparison of the Conceptions of God in the Thinking of Paul Tillich and Henry Nelson Wieman.”
4. King’s ‘I Have a Dream’ Speech Was Not His First at the Lincoln Memorial
Six years before his iconic oration at the March on Washington, King was among the civil rights leaders who spoke in the shadow of the Great Emancipator during the Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom on May 17, 1957. Before a crowd estimated at between 15,000 and 30,000, King delivered his first national address on the topic of voting rights. His speech, in which he urged America to “give us the ballot,” drew strong reviews and positioned him at the forefront of the civil rights leadership.
5. King Was Imprisoned Nearly 30 Times
According to the King Center, the civil rights leader went to jail 29 times. He was arrested for acts of civil disobedience and on trumped-up charges, such as when he was jailed in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1956 for driving 30 miles per hour in a 25-mile-per-hour zone.
6. King Narrowly Escaped an Assassination Attempt a Decade Before His Death
On September 20, 1958, King was in Harlem signing copies of his new book, Stride Toward Freedom, in Blumstein’s department store when he was approached by Izola Ware Curry. The woman asked if he was Martin Luther King Jr. After he said yes, Curry said, “I’ve been looking for you for five years,” and she plunged a seven-inch letter opener into his chest. The tip of the blade came to rest alongside his aorta, and King underwent hours of delicate emergency surgery. Surgeons later told King that just one sneeze could have punctured the aorta and killed him. From his hospital bed where he convalesced for weeks, King issued a statement affirming his nonviolent principles and saying he felt no ill will toward his mentally ill attacker.
7. King’s Last Public Speech Foretold His Death
King had come to Memphis in April 1968 to support the strike of the city’s Black garbage workers, and in a speech on the night before his assassination, he told an audience at Mason Temple Church: “Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now … I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land. And I’m happy tonight. I’m not worried about anything. I’m not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.”
8. Members of King’s Family Did Not Believe James Earl Ray Acted Alone
Ray, a career criminal, pled guilty to King’s assassination but later recanted. King’s son Dexter met publicly with Ray in 1997 and argued for the case to be reopened. King’s widow, Coretta, believed the Mafia and local, state and federal government agencies were deeply involved in the murder. She praised the result of a 1999 civil trial in which a Memphis jury decided the assassination was the result of a conspiracy and that Ray was set up to take the blame. A U.S. Department of Justice investigation released in 2000 reported no evidence of a conspiracy.
9. King’s Mother Was Also Slain by a Bullet
On June 30, 1974, as 69-year-old Alberta Williams King played the organ at a Sunday service inside Ebenezer Baptist Church, Marcus Wayne Chenault Jr. rose from the front pew, drew two pistols and began to fire shots. One of the bullets struck and killed King, who died steps from where her son had preached nonviolence. The deranged gunman said that Christians were his enemy and that although he had received divine instructions to kill King’s father, who was in the congregation, he killed King’s mother instead because she was closer. The shooting also left a church deacon dead. Chenault received a death penalty sentence that was later changed to life imprisonment, in part due to the King family’s opposition to capital punishment.
10. George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Cesar Chavez are the Only Other Americans to Have Had Their Birthdays Observed as a National Holiday
In 1983 President Ronald Reagan signed a bill that created a federal holiday to honor King. The holiday, first commemorated in 1986, is celebrated on the third Monday in January, close to the civil rights leader’s January 15 birthday.
