Illinois REALTORS®’ offices in Springfield will be closed Monday, Jan. 17, to commemorate Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

Born on Jan. 15, 1929 in Atlanta, Ga., King became a U.S. civil rights leader who sought change through peaceful protests. He was assassinated in 1968 in Memphis, Tenn.

In the year 2000, all 50 states made Martin Luther King Jr. Day a paid holiday for state employees. Although President Ronald Reagan signed legislation in 1983 to create Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and the federal holiday first went into effect in 1986, some states had resisted observing the holiday.

Find out more about King and the holiday, which is annually observed on the third Monday in January.