Days Until Martin Luther King Jr. Day (reference)
Days until Martin Luther King Jr. Day (reference)
Statutorily the third Monday in January; date shifts each year.
About Martin Luther King Jr. Day (reference)
Martin Luther King Jr. Day is statutorily the third Monday in January, honoring the civil rights leader's birthday (January 15); the federal holiday was signed into law in 1983 but wasn't observed by all 50 US states until as late as 2000.
Because the holiday is pinned to a Monday rather than King's actual January 15 birth date, it can land anywhere from January 15 to January 21 depending on the year.
Arizona and New Hampshire were among the last states to formally adopt the holiday under its full name, with Arizona only doing so after a high-profile 1990 vote and economic boycott pressure tied to a prior refusal to recognize the day.
South Carolina was the last US state to formally recognize the holiday with paid time off for state employees, only doing so in 2000, decades after most other states had already adopted it.
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