Presidential Medal of Freedom

King was  awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal.

 Martin Luther King Jr. Day was established as a holiday in numerous cities and states beginning in 1971; the holiday was enacted at the federal level by legislation signed by President Ronald Reagan in 1986.

 Hundreds of streets in the U.S. have been renamed in his honor, and a county in Washington State was also rededicated for him. 

The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., was dedicated in 2011.