MLK Day in Michigan. Is it a federal holiday? What to know

Communities throughout Michigan will have fun the legacy of civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr. on Monday, Jan. 19, as state and federal workplaces and a few companies shut for the day.

The late black preacher and activist, murdered in 1968, is acknowledged yearly with a federal vacation, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, on the third Monday of January, January 19. To have fun MLK Day, the King Heart in Atlanta is selling the theme 2026“Mission Attainable II: Constructing Group, Uniting a Nation in a Nonviolent Method,” the web site stated.

“This theme is greater than a banner; it’s a blueprint for motion. It guides our programming, fuels our attain and anchors our dedication to constructing the Beloved Group; a world the place injustice ends, violence is changed by compassion and love turns into the prevailing drive,” says the King Heart’s web site.

This is what that you must know forward of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

When is MLK Jr. Day in 2026?

Martin Luther King Jr. Day is Monday, January 19, 2026. The federal vacation falls on the third Monday in January yearly.

How do Michigan communities have fun?

Listed below are occasions celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. Day in Michigan:

• MLK Day Rally in Detroit: The twenty third annual MLK Day Rally will happen on January 19 at midday at St. Matthew’s & St. Joseph’s Episcopal Church in Detroit. The occasion will embrace a rally and march combating for democracy and human rights, adopted by a group meal, the web site stated.
• MLK Day in Lansing: The dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Fee of Mid-Michigan will host its forty first annual A Day of Celebration at 11 a.m. Jan. 19 at the Lansing Center in Lansing. The occasion will characteristic civil rights activist Diane Nash as featured speaker and Michigan Supreme Courtroom Justice Kyra Harris Bolden as keynote speaker.
• MLK Day with Michigan United: Michigan United will host an MLK Day celebration, “My Freedom. My Resistance. Our America,” on Jan. 19 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Nice Grove Missionary Baptist Church in Detroit. The occasion will characteristic Genetta Y. Hatcher, pastor of The Room Church, because the keynote speaker.
• MLK Day in Traverse City: Traverse Metropolis’s annual MLK Day of Service consists of free occasions on Jan. 19 on the Commongrounds Constructing and The Alluvion in Traverse Metropolis, sponsored by Constructing Bridges with Music. With a poetry theme, the lineup consists of written and carried out scholar poetry, reside music, artwork workshops, free lunch, a youth poetry slam and a night efficiency by Detroit Poet Laureate Jessica Care Moore.
• MLK Day at UM: The College of Michigan will host its fortieth annual MLK Symposium, with a collection of occasions on the Ann Arbor campus on January 19. The Keynote Memorial Lecture will characteristic audio system Donzaleigh Abernathy, an actress, creator and civil rights activist, and NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson at 10 a.m. within the Hill Auditorium.
• MLK Day Lecture in Grand Rapids: The Grand Rapids Public Library will host a public lecture, “Integrating right into a Burning Home, Martin’s Nice Concern and the Problem Earlier than Us,” that includes Randal Maurice Jelks, a professor, creator and documentary movie producer for MLK Day. The occasion will happen on January 19 from 6:30 to eight:00 PM on the Primary Library in Grand Rapids.
• Regional celebration of MLK Day in Saginaw: The regional celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. 2026, hosted by Saginaw Valley State College, will happen on January 22 at 7:00 PM within the Malcolm Subject Theater, Curtiss Corridor on the Saginaw campus. The occasion will characteristic keynote speaker Cynthia “Cynt” Marshall, a businessman and creator, and might be open to the general public.
• MLK Service Day: An MLK Day of Service in Detroit will embrace meals distribution, wheelchair ramp building, sizzling meals, well being screenings, youth actions and a useful resource truthful with free giveaways on January 19. The occasion will happen from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the Kemeny Recreation Heart in Detroit.

Is MLK Jr. Day a federal vacation?

Sure, Martin Luther King Jr. Day is one federal holiday within the US All federal workplaces, together with courts, post offices, social safety workplaces and others might be closed.

Is Martin Luther King Jr. Day a vacation in Michigan?

Sure, Martin Luther King Jr. Day is one state holiday in Michigan. State workplaces, such because the Secretary of State’s workplace, might be closed and state staff might be given the time off.

Will the banks be open on MLK Jr. Day?

No. MLK Day is a federal vacation, so banks and credit score unions might be closed. ATMs at banks should stay operational.

Will the colleges be open?

No, public colleges and faculties are on Martin Luther King Jr. Day closed in honor of the vacation.

How did MLK Jr. Day come about?

Martin Luther King Jr. Day became a federal vacation on Nov. 2, 1983, when President Ronald Reagan signed the King Vacation Invoice into legislation, in accordance with the Nationwide Museum of African American Historical past & Tradition.

Efforts to ascertain a federal vacation in King’s honor started shortly after his assassination in 1968, with civil rights activists pushing for the vacation to happen 15 years in the past, the museum stated.

When MLK Jr. Day got here into impact in 1983, it took one other seventeen years for all fifty states to acknowledge the federal vacation.

Contact Jenna Prestininzi: jprestininzi@freepress.com.