For 15 years after Martin Luther King Jr.'s death activists rallied to make MLK Day a federal holiday. Here's how it happened. Hotspots ranked Start the day smarter ☀️ Funniest cap messages ...

In 1983, about 20 years after King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, legislation for a Martin Luther King Jr. Day on the third Monday of January cleared Congress and President Ronald Reagan signed it.

But Martin Luther King Jr. Day is celebrated on the third Monday in January due to the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, which former President Lyndon B. Johnson signed into law in 1968.

Though Dr. King lost his life in April 1968, it would be 15 years before Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day would be declared a federal holiday, and another three years before it would be observed.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day, which always takes place on the third Monday in January, occurs on Monday, Jan. 20. The holiday honors the life and birthday of the influential civil rights leader.

Martin Luther King III, a civil rights activist and the son of Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King, spoke to CBS News on MLK Day and Trump's inauguration.

It wasn’t for 15 years until after King’s death that civil rights activists finally succeeded in making Martin Luther King Jr. Day a nationally observed holiday.. On Nov. 2, 1983, Reagan ...

Efforts from King’s widow, Coretta Scott King, lawmakers, activists and others took years. Here’s what you need to know about how Martin Luther King Jr. Day became a holiday. When is MLK Day 2025?

On Nov. 3, 1983, President Ronald Reagan signed a bill marking the third Monday of January, as Martin Luther King Jr. Day, according to the center. The holiday was to begin in 1986.