MLK Day in Montana

This story is excerpted from the MT Lowdown, a weekly newsletter digest containing original reporting and analysis published every Friday. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the state and federal holiday commemorating the noted Civil Rights leader, will be celebrated this year on Monday, Jan. 15. While King was assassinated in 1968, the holiday that today provides a designated time to reflect on America’s complex history around race and civil rights wasn’t put on the books nationally until 1983, when a bill designating a federal holiday around King’s birthday was signed into law by President