Story highlights

  • The third Monday in January is Martin Luther King Jr. Day
  • The federal holiday is also the only federal holiday of service
  • "Everybody can be great because everybody can serve," Dr. King said

Martin Luther King Jr. Day is celebrated on the third Monday in January, although Dr. King was actually born on the 15th of January 1929, 89 years ago.

Mrs. Coretta Scott King and musician Stevie Wonder fought for years to make it a federal holiday. Wonder told CNN that they started with tours and marches in the early 1980s. "And so our first march was in 1981, and we had another one in '82, '83. And then ultimately the bill was signed by President Reagan."
Below are some facts and numbers related to the federal holiday, in which Americans are encouraged to participate in a day of service. The numbers tell the story.
That's all this whole thing is about. We aren't engaged in any negative protest and in any negative arguments with anybody. We are saying that we are determined to be men. We are determined to be people.
Martin Luther King Jr.
  • 63 years ago
    December 1, 1955 - The Montgomery Bus Boycott

    The Montgomery Bus Boycott against segregated seating lasted approximately one year, starting December 1, 1955. This is what Dr. King said in his book, "Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story": We have no alternative but to protest. For many years we have shown an amazing patience. We have sometimes given our white brothers the feeling that we liked the way we were being treated. But we come here tonight to be saved from that patience that makes us patient with anything less than freedom and justice.

  • 50 years ago
    February 4, 1968 - Dr. King encourages his congregation to seek greatness through service and love

    "Everybody can be great because everybody can serve," Dr. King said in his sermon "The Drum Major Instinct," fifty years ago on February 4, 1968. Mrs. King read the same statement when, in 1994, she asked congress to make the holiday an official national day of humanitarian service.

  • 50 years ago
    April 8, 1968 - The first legislative bill to establish Martin Luther King Jr. Day

    Rep. John Conyers (D-Michigan) sponsored the bill on April 8, 1968, to the first legislative bill to establish the federal holiday.

  • 38 years ago
    1980 - Stevie Wonder calls for a day of remembrance

    Stevie Wonder's release of "Happy Birthday," a song asking for a day "in full remembrance."

  • 35 years ago
    November 3, 1983 - Martin Luther King Jr. Day becomes a national holiday

    President Ronald Reagan signed the November 3, 1983 legislation, creating the national holiday, which started in 1986.

  • 32 years ago
    January 20, 1986 - The very first national celebration

    The very first national celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day happened on January 20, 1986.

  • 24 years ago
    August 23, 1994 - The holiday becomes a day of service

    The holiday became a day of service, August 23, 1994, when President Bill Clinton signed the Martin Luther King Jr. Federal Holiday and Service Act.

Let us keep the issues where they are.
Martin Luther King Jr., in a speech delivered one day before his assassination