When Is Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2026?
Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2026
That was 178 days ago.
Rule: the 3rd Monday of January. See how weekday rules are calculated
About Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 2026
Martin Luther King Jr. Day was signed into law by President Ronald Reagan in 1983, following a campaign led by Coretta Scott King and others that took 15 years after King's 1968 assassination to succeed.
Stevie Wonder's 1980 song 'Happy Birthday,' written explicitly to support the campaign for a federal holiday, is widely credited with helping raise public pressure that contributed to the 1983 legislation.
Many US school districts use the holiday for community service projects rather than a purely unstructured day off, in line with its official service designation.
Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 2026: January 19th, a Monday.
Martin Luther King Jr. Day, 2026 — day 19 of 2026: ISO week 4 (Q1), 346 left.
Martin Luther King Jr. Day, 2026: next is Monday, January 18th; prior was Monday, January 20th.
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