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A day in history, November 2, 1983

President Ronald Reagan signs a bill in the White House Rose Garden designating a federal holiday honoring Martin Luther King, Jr., to be observed on the third Monday of January.

Martin Luther King, Jr., was born in Atlanta in 1929, the son of a Baptist minister. He received a doctorate degree in theology and in 1955 organized the first major protest of the civil rights movement: the successful Montgomery Bus Boycott. Influenced by Mohandas Gandhi, he advocated nonviolent civil disobedience to racial segregation. The peaceful protests he led throughout the American South were often met with violence, but King and his followers persisted, and the movement gained momentum.

A powerful orator, he appealed to Christian and American ideals and won growing support from the federal government and Northern whites. In 1963, he led his massive March on Washington, in which he delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” address. In 1964, the civil rights movement achieved two of its greatest successes: the ratification of the 24th Amendment, which abolished the poll tax, and the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibited racial discrimination in employment and education and outlawed racial segregation in public facilities. In October of that year, King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. He donated the prize money, valued at $54,600, to the civil rights movement.

In the late 1960s, King openly criticized U.S. involvement in Vietnam and turned his efforts to winning economic equality for poorer Americans. By that time, the civil rights movement had begun to fracture, with activists such as Stokely Carmichael rejecting King’s vision of nonviolent integration in favor of African American self-reliance and self-defense. In 1968, King intended to revive his movement through an interracial “Poor People’s March” on Washington, but on April 4 escaped white convict James Earl Ray assassinated him in Memphis, Tennessee.

AmeriCorps Guide to MLK Day of Service in the time of COVID-19.

MLK Weekend Virtual Events

Friday, January 15th

• Harvard Pilgrim's 11th Annual MLK Celebration and Service Day, 11:00 am - 12:15 pm EST
• Voices in Celebration of MLK: A Conscious Gathering, 6:00 - 7:00 pm EST

Saturday, January 16th

• MLK’s Vision of Radical Interconnectedness: An Intergenerational Panel, 2:30 - 4:00 pm EST

Sunday, January 17th

• 10th Annual MLK Virtual Sunday Supper, 6:00 - 8:00 pm EST
• MLK Tribute, Living Jazz, 7 pm EST

Monday, January 18th

• Virtual MLK Dare to Dream Day, 11:00 am - 2:00 pm EST
• 39th Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Keynote and Awards Celebration, 12:30 - 1:30 pm EST
• MLK Day Celebration 2021, 1:00 pm - 6:30 pm EST
• Martin Luther King Day Celebration, 2:00-3:30 pm EST

In previous years, The National Office challenged all Job Corps centers to coordinate a community Day of Service to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK Jr.). You can use their existing tips to plan a successful day of service in your community

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Educators and facilitators can use this list of "do's" and "don'ts" for celebrating and engaging in continuous learning on MLK Day and beyond.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day is an ideal time to reflect on the life and legacy of this great leader, but it's important to do it with care and nuance—and to keep the conversation going.

The Martin Luther King Jr. holiday on Jan. 18, 2021, is the 26th anniversary of the day of service that celebrates the Civil Rights leader’s life and legacy.

Observed each year on the third Monday in January as “a day on, not a day off,” MLK Day is the only federal holiday designated as a national day of service to encourage all Americans to volunteer to improve their communities.

Use this collection of resources, articles, and stories to forward service within your community and pay tribute to Dr. King's memory.

NYC Events 2021

Ways to be of service on MLK Day

• Volunteer your time, use resources like voluteermatch.com or the app, Deed to connect with local community organizations, and find your fit.
• Make a contribution, if you don't have the time to spend working directly with the community, donate funds, or other contributions that support their work.
• Learn, continued learning is a wonderful way to further engage in self-reflection and conversations.
• Get political, use your voice and amplify others. Apps like 5 Calls makes calling your representatives easy.

Martin Luther King Jr. Biographical