This Day in History: <br />Martin Luther King Jr. Federal <br />Holiday Declared November 2, 1983 President Ronald Reagan signed a bill designating the holiday to be observed on the third Monday of January. King was a prominent leader of the civil rights movement which achieved the ratification of <br />the 24th Amendment, and the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibited racial discrimination and outlawed racial segregation. King would be awarded the <br />Nobel Peace Prize. King was assassinated on April 4 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee.
