Martin Luther King, Jr., Day is a United States national holiday honoring the birthday of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. The holiday is observed each year on the third Monday in January. King's actual birthday was Jan. 15, 1929. On Martin Luther King, Jr., Day, most government offices and schools close for the day, but many private businesses remain open.

In 1929, civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. was born in Atlanta, Georgia. The black civil rights leader, minister and Nobel Peace Prize recipient (1964) was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968.

A campaign to establish a holiday honoring King began soon after he was assassinated in 1968. In 1983, Congress made his birthday a federal holiday, first celebrated on Jan. 20, 1986. Today, the holiday is observed by the federal government and by nearly every state.