Presidential Document2025-01600
Martin Luther King, Jr., Federal Holiday, 2025
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
January 22, 2025
Signed
January 17, 2025
Issuing agencies
Executive Office of the President
Full Text
<html>
<head>
<title>Federal Register, Volume 90 Issue 13 (Wednesday, January 22, 2025)</title>
</head>
<body><pre>
[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 13 (Wednesday, January 22, 2025)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 7649-7650]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-01600]
Presidential Documents
Federal Register / Vol. 90, No. 13 / Wednesday, January 22, 2025 /
Presidential Documents
___________________________________________________________________
Title 3--
The President
[[Page 7649]]
Proclamation 10884 of January 17, 2025
Martin Luther King, Jr., Federal Holiday, 2025
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
Today, we honor the life and legacy of the Reverend Dr.
Martin Luther King, Jr., an inspirational leader whose
moral vision and courage helped bend the arc of history
toward justice. And we recommit to building the future
he envisioned.
Dr. King's ministry, movement, and epic struggle for
civil rights and voting rights sought to redeem the
soul of our Nation. That soul is embodied in the sacred
proposition that we are all created equal in the image
of God. Dr. King invoked this proposition when, on that
day in 1963, he told the Nation about a dream--a dream
in which every person in this Nation is guaranteed the
unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of
happiness. And he helped our country realize this
proposition with the passage of the Civil Rights Act of
1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
But the battle for the soul of our Nation is
perennial--a constant struggle between hope and fear,
kindness and cruelty, and justice and injustice. It is
a battle that has been waged on battlefields and
bridges, and within courthouses and city councils.
There is nothing guaranteed about our democracy. Every
generation is required to keep it, defend it, and
protect it. There is still so much to do to build the
``Beloved Community'' Dr. King envisioned--from
securing economic justice and protecting our civil
rights and liberties to ensuring everyone has the right
to vote and have that vote counted. But I know it is
possible because the power to redeem the soul of
America has always been in the hands of ``We the
People.'' Together, we can do our best to see each
other not as enemies but as neighbors; to believe in
and practice honesty, decency, and respect; and to
fight for freedom, justice and democracy.
Today, we remember Dr. King as a towering spiritual
leader and a lifelong warrior for equality and justice.
As we celebrate his legacy, I am reminded of this line
from a gospel song: ``We've come too far from where we
started. Nobody told me that the road would be easy. I
don't believe He brought me this far to leave me.'' Dr.
King's story is a reminder that progress is never
easy--but it is always possible--and that good things
get done on our march toward a more perfect Union. We
have never lived up to the ideals of our Nation, but we
have never walked away from them either. May we be
inspired by Dr. King's path and motivated by his
legacy, working together to build a world founded on
freedom, equality, and justice for all.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of
the United States of America, by virtue of the
authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws
of the United States, do hereby proclaim Monday,
January 20, 2025, as the Martin Luther King, Jr.,
Federal Holiday. I encourage all Americans to observe
this day with appropriate civic, community, and service
projects in honor of Dr. King and to visit <a href="http://MLKDay.gov">MLKDay.gov</a>
to find Martin Luther King, Jr., Day of Service
projects across our country.
[[Page 7650]]
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
seventeenth day of January, in the year of our Lord two
thousand twenty-five, and of the Independence of the
United States of America the two hundred and forty-
ninth.
<GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT>
(Presidential Sig.)
[FR Doc. 2025-01600
Filed 1-21-25; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3395-F4-P
</pre></body>
</html>Indexed from Federal Register on January 22, 2025.
This is legal information, not legal advice. Laws vary by jurisdiction and change frequently. Always verify current law with official sources and consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction for advice on your specific situation.