In 2025, Jan. 20 falls on the month’s third Monday, bringing together two important national events: Inauguration Day and Martin Luther King Jr. National Day of Service. As people across Utah, the United States and throughout the world reflect on Dr. King’s life and legacy, embracing his commitment to human rights, racial integration and civic engagement, Donald Trump will take the presidential oath of office.
Inauguration Day, established by the 20th Amendment in 1937, takes place every four years on Jan. 20 — or Jan. 21 if the 20th falls on a Sunday — marking our country’s formal presidential transfer of power.
In 1983, President Ronald Reagan signed legislation creating a federal holiday to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. About five years after the first observation of this holiday, the Utah Martin Luther King Jr Human Rights Commission was established. Our commission represents a cross-section of civic and community leaders from the private, public and nonprofit sectors to promote Dr. King’s philosophy of nonviolence, and human and civil rights, with an aim to create a beloved community for all Utahns.
On Jan. 20, we invite Utahns across the state to find opportunities to build and enhance our own beloved communities.
This third and rare overlap of Inauguration Day and MLK Day has occurred only twice since MLK Day was first observed in 1986: The re-election of President Bill Clinton in 1997 and the re-election of President Barack Obama in 2013. Both Clinton and Obama invoked Dr. King’s legacy in their addresses during their respective inauguration ceremonies.
This holiday provides the nation with an opportunity to reflect on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s transformational leadership. Through his unwavering commitment and his ability to articulate a unifying vision of equal access to civil and human rights, he declared that “... a genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus.”
During his work advancing the Civil Rights Movement, Dr. King met with three presidents, starting with Republican President Dwight Eisenhower in 1958. His meetings with Democratic Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson were pivotal in advancing key civil rights bills, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Civil Rights Act of 1968. His enduring legacy was memorialized when Republican President Ronald Reagan signed the King Holiday bill in 1983, and again during the dedication of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in 2011.
Dr. King gave us the blueprint on how to disagree better — to use the title of Utah Gov. Spencer J. Cox’s national initiative — in his vision of the beloved community. He urged us to pursue a society that is not driven by fear-fueled discrimination, bigotry and prejudice, but instead one that embodies the spirit of sisterhood and brotherhood.
As he understood that conflict is “an inevitable part of [the] human experience,” he left us with the tools to achieve peaceful resolution and reconciliation through his six principles of nonviolence.
In Utah, as we join in celebrating the country’s 39th national observance of MLK Day, which was also Dr. King’s age at the time of his death, these dual events can remind us of the power of nonviolent social action to inspire personal, cultural and societal transformation.
The convergence of MLK Day and Inauguration Day invites reflection on shared ideals and how we can embody them in our own lives. How can we foster civil discourse, move through conflict productively and build a spirit of unity and shared humanity?
One meaningful step is through service, the central theme of MLK Day: “A day on, not a day off.”
Two commission members, Kameron Abilia and Michael Nixon, are collaborating with UServeUtah’s United in Service project in supporting Switchpoint Tooele. Volunteers can visit userve.utah.gov/united-in-service to register. Other commission members will collaborate with the Utah Hockey Club to host youth and their guardians for a day of learning together, serving others and being inspired to build bridges of love and unity.
Learn more about how you can get involved at multicultural.utah.gov/mlk.
(Tamara N. Stevenson) Tamara N. Stevenson, EdD., is the Utah Martin Luther King Jr. Human Rights Commission chair.
Tamara N. Stevenson, EdD., is the Utah Martin Luther King Jr. Human Rights Commission chair.
(Michael Nixon) Michael Nixon is the Utah Martin Luther King Jr Human Rights Commission vice chair.
Michael Nixon is the Utah Martin Luther King Jr Human Rights Commission vice chair.
(Rand Lunceford) Rand Lunceford is a Utah Martin Luther King Jr Human Rights Commission commissioner.
Rand Lunceford is a Utah Martin Luther King Jr Human Rights Commission commissioner.
Content from outside links does not necessarily reflect the views of the Utah Division of Multicultural Affairs, a nonpartisan government agency, which supports the MLK Jr. Human Rights Commission.
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