Holiday for a civil rights icon is fast approaching, but does Mass. celebrate it?

A holiday commemorating a civil rights leader’s birthday is fast approaching, but it’s not recognized the same way in every state, including Massachusetts.

In a handful of states, March 31 is Cesar Chavez Day. The date corresponds with the birthday of Chavez, a farm worker and civil rights activist who co-founded the United Farm Workers in the 1960s.

Through “humility and non-violent methods,” Chavez led strikes and marches “to better the lives of farmworkers,” according to the Los Angeles County Library’s website. In 1994, Chavez was awarded a posthumous Presidential Medal of Freedom following his death the year before.

San Francisco first recognized Chavez’s birthday as a city holiday in 1994, El País reported in 2023.

In 2014, President Barack Obama proclaimed March 31 as Cesar Chavez Day, a federal commemorative holiday. The holiday marks Chavez’s birth and his legacy.

“Raised into the life of a migrant farm worker, he toiled alongside men, women, and children who performed daily, backbreaking labor for meager pay and in deplorable conditions,“ Obama said in his proclamation. ”They were exposed to dangerous pesticides and denied the most basic protections, including minimum wages, health care, and access to drinking water.”

While a commemorative holiday, Cesar Chavez Day is not a national holiday — something Obama vocally supported in 2008 and 2011, El País reported.

However, the day is a state holiday in nine states: California, Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Minnesota, Nevada, Utah and Wisconsin. While not a state holiday in Washington state, it is observed there.

Despite the designations, Cesar Chavez Day is recognized differently. In Texas and Colorado, the holiday is optional. In Tuscon, Arizona, Cesar Chavez Day is a paid holiday.

State offices and schools in California are closed for the day, though schools are not required to close for the state holiday, according to state law. Colorado’s state offices must remain open, Time and Date reported. In the other states that commemorate Cesar Chavez Day, public events are typically scheduled on or around March 31 to recognize Chavez’s life and legacy.

As Massachusetts does not recognize Cesar Chavez Day, state offices and schools will be open on Monday, March 31.