Today is the federal holiday of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
King was the chief spokesperson for non-violent activism in the Civil Rights Movement, which protested racial discrimination in federal and state law and civil society.
The holiday is observed annually on the third Monday in January, and is in honor of King’s actual birthday on January 15th.
The campaign for a federal holiday in King’s honor began soon after his assassination in Memphis in 1968.
President Ronald Reagan signed the holiday into law in 1983, and it was first observed three years later.
Some states resisted observing the holiday, or gave it alternative names or combined it with other holidays.
Official observance in each state’s law, as well as federal law, occurred in the year 2000.
