--- title: What Is Open and Closed on Martin Luther King Day 2019 description: What is open and closed on Martin Luther King Day 2019? Find out if banks, schools and the post office are open. canonical: https://time.com/5499125/whats-open-and-closed-on-martin-luther-king-day-2019/ author: Elaine Selna article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-01-20T11:00:10.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:43:54.741Z og:title: Here’s What’s Open and Closed on Martin Luther King Day og:description: From the banks to the schools to the post office og:url: https://time.com/5499125/whats-open-and-closed-on-martin-luther-king-day-2019/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Here’s What’s Open and Closed on Martin Luther King Day twitter:description: From the banks to the schools to the post office twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Here’s What’s Open and Closed on Martin Luther King Day > Sponsored content. 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It curates the day's top headlines with TIME's reporting and analysis across politics, world affairs, business, health and culture. It is free to join at time.com/newsletters. #### How do I sign up for The Brief? The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=d04fe00b-417e-4774-9d8b-97c561bb48f0&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: The MLK Speech That Linked Vietnam and Civil Rights [Watch (HLS stream): The MLK Speech That Linked Vietnam and Civil Rights](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/0aEpFkSI.m3u8) (3:23)  _Published 2010-12-30. In this non-fiction cartoon, John Goodwin, a young photographer in 1967, captures the iconic images of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s historic 'Beyond Vietnam' speech at New York's Riverside Church_ by [Elaine Selna](https://time.com/author/elaine-selna/) ## Elaine Selna Jan 20, 2019 11:00 AM UTC by [Elaine Selna](https://time.com/author/elaine-selna/) ## Elaine Selna Jan 20, 2019 11:00 AM UTC On January 21, 2019, Americans all over will most likely have [the day off](http://time.com/5220093/the-whitewashing-and-resurrection-of-dr-kings-legacy/). On this day we honor the work of famous civil rights activist [Martin Luther King Jr.](http://time.com/5101560/martin-luther-king-day-monuments/) whose birthday was on January 15, 1929 and would’ve turned 90 this year. Ever since [1983](http://time.com/4632373/mlk-first-holiday-celebration/) when President Ronald Reagan made it [official](http://time.com/4182473/martin-luther-king-day-mlk-what-know/) we get this day off as Americans. So this Monday, whether you have the day off or not, it might be hard to know what will or won’t be open. Let this be your guide. Here’s what’s open and closed on Martin Luther King Day 2019. ## Are banks open on Martin Luther King Day 2019? Many banks follow the holiday schedule that the [Federal Reserve](https://www.kiplinger.com/article/credit/T005-C011-S001-federal-bank-holidays-is-my-bank-open-today.html) uses. Because the Reserve is a part of the federal government, it observes Martin Luther King Jr. Day and is closed. This means most bank locations will be closed in the United States as well, however mobile banking and ATMs should still be accessible. ## Is Martin Luther King Day a Federal Holiday? Yes, Martin Luther King Day is a federal holiday. Former President Ronald Reagan [signed the bill](http://time.com/3661538/mlk-day-reagan-history/) to make the civil rights hero’s birthday, January 15th, a nationally recognized holiday on Nov. 2, 1983\. This honor had only been previously given to President George Washington. ## Is the U.S. post office office open today? The [United States Postal Service](https://about.usps.com/newsroom/events/) is under the Executive Branch of the government, therefore it will be closed on Martin Luther King Day, Jan. 21, 2019 and mail will not be running.  Is the post office open on Martin Luther King Day Joe Raedle—Getty Images However, [UPS](https://www.ups.com/us/en/help-center/shipping-support/operation-days/us.page) and [FedEx](https://www.fedex.com/en-us/service-guide/holiday-schedule.html) will be open normal business hours with modified services for FedEx Express and Smart Post. If you are expecting mail or packages through these two services on Monday you will most likely receive them. ## Are schools open on Martin Luther King Day? The majority of schools, colleges and universities will be closed on Martin Luther King Day 2019\. However some towns in states like [South Carolina, Georgia](https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2014/01/when-schools-stay-open-on-martin-luther-king-day/283191/) and [Florida](https://www.naplesnews.com/story/news/education/2018/01/10/reminder-collier-county-public-schools-hold-class-mlk-day-make-up-hurricane-irma/1020942001/) haven’t observed this holiday in years past and used it as a make-up day due to weather earlier in the school year. ## Is the stock market open on Martin Luther King Day? The New York Stock Exchange [will be closed](https://www.nyse.com/markets/hours-calendars) on the third Monday in January. This is one of the few days it is closed during the entire year. ## Are stores and restaurants open on Martin Luther King Day? After the holiday shopping season you’d think that there was nothing else to buy. However, many major retail stores and restaurants stay open on Martin Luther King Jr. day, with some businesses offering [sales](https://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/my-money/articles/shopping-holidays-the-best-days-to-shop-this-year). ## Transcript >> I come to this magnificent house of worship tonight because my conscience leaves me no other choice. I join you in this meeting because I'm in deepest agreement with the aims and work of the organization which has brought us together: Clergy and Laymen Concerned About Vietnam. >> See, I had grown up knowing about Martin King, Jr. My father knew King and my father knew King's parents for that matter. He knew both families. My father was American Baptist clergy. And the first time I ever came with a camera anywhere near Martin Luther King was at Riverside Church, so that was his coming out. When he spoke at the Riverside Church, that was his coming out in terms of being antiwar. Many other people-- somebody, other civil rights leaders were not in favor of him doing that because they wanted to defy the racial equality movement. And that was a year to the day before he was assassinated in Memphis. >> We were taking the black young men who had been crippled by our society and sending them 8, 000 miles away to guarantee liberties in Southeast Asia, which they had not found in Southwest Georgia and East Harlem. And so we have been repeatedly faced with the cruel irony of watching Negro and white boys on TV screens as they kill and die together for a nation that has been unable to seat them together in the same schools. >> My-- I just simply felt that what I could then war, was to convey visually to everybody else in the country, show that they were deeply committed people, who were-- who were against the war and I wanted to show them in good form. >> And I knew that I could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed in the ghettos without having first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today, my own government. >> And I was there with a Hasselblad and a 8 millimeter normal lens. I was a-- I was a kid-- I was a kid but I was-- I was 22 or so. I didn't have the range of equipments and so forth that I did later on. Now I look back and I'm astonished 'cause I took one photograph of King speaking from in front and then I went around and back and get that one kind of dramatic shot of him speaking from the back. And I'm not sure any other photographers thought about it. There were probably six or seven other photographers around. My photographs are the ones that keep on showing up. >> We will be marching for these and a dozen other names and attending rallies without end, unless there is a significant and profound change in American life and policy. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5499125/whats-open-and-closed-on-martin-luther-king-day-2019/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5499125/whats-open-and-closed-on-martin-luther-king-day-2019/"},"headline":"Here’s What’s Open and Closed on Martin Luther King Day","datePublished":"2019-01-20T11:00:10.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:43:54.741Z","description":"On January 21, 2019, Americans all over will most likely have the day off","url":"https://time.com/5499125/whats-open-and-closed-on-martin-luther-king-day-2019/","keywords":["Newsfeed","onetime","holidays 2019"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Elaine Selna","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/elaine-selna/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5499125/whats-open-and-closed-on-martin-luther-king-day-2019/","name":"Here’s What’s Open and Closed on Martin Luther King Day"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"The MLK Speech That Linked Vietnam and Civil Rights","description":"In this non-fiction cartoon, John Goodwin, a young photographer in 1967, captures the iconic images of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s historic 'Beyond Vietnam' speech at New York's Riverside Church","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/0aEpFkSI/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2010-12-30T19:10:57.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/0aEpFkSI.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5499125/whats-open-and-closed-on-martin-luther-king-day-2019/","duration":"PT3M23S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5499125/whats-open-and-closed-on-martin-luther-king-day-2019/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```