Schools, Government Offices Closed Monday for MLK Day

Southampton area schools and government offices, including post offices, are closed Monday in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a federal holiday.

The Southampton, Tuckahoe, Sag Harbor, Bridgehampton and Sagaponack public school districts are closed, as well at local Catholic school, Our Lady of the Hamptons in Southampton Village.

Southampton Town Hall and Southampton, Sag Harbor, Sagaponack and North Haven village halls are all closed.

Local libraries, including Rogers Memorial in Southampton Village, John Jermain Memorial in Sag Harbor and Hampton Library in Bridgehampton, are closed.

Rogers Memorial Library will open its doors briefly in the morning for the 11th annual community breakfast to celebrate the life and legacy of the Rev. Dr. King. A clip from an interview with the Rev. Dr. King at the his Atlanta home in December 1965 will be screened. Doors open at 9:45 a.m., but reservations were required to attend the event.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day was first celebrated as an officially recognized federal holiday in 1986, though a bill to establish a holiday coinciding with the Rev. Dr. King's birthday was first introduced in the House of Representatives by Rep. John Conyers, D-Michigan, just four days following his death, when he was assassinated April 4, 1968, at the age of 39.

The public ceremony for President Barack Obama's second inauguration is also taking place on Monday, though he was officially sworn in Sunday during a private event.