The holiday falls on the third Monday of January. A bill to make Martin Luther King Jr. Day a federal holiday was introduced on April 8, 1968 — four days after King was assassinated, according to the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

Martin Luther King, Jr. (January 15, 1929-April 4, 1968) was one of the most prominent leaders of America's Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s and 60s. His words and actions have left a lasting mark on America and the world as a whole,