The United States celebrates Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a federal holiday established to honor the life of the civil rights icon. But in Alabama and Mississippi, Monday is also Robert E. Lee Day, honoring the Confederate general.
Both states recognize King and Lee on the third Monday in January. The state created a holiday in Lee’s honor more than 100 years ago and later merged it with the federal holiday established in King’s honor in the 1980s.
The strange juxtaposition of honoring men of vastly different legacies has persisted for decades.
Both boys have January birthdays. Mr. Lee was born on January 19, 1807. King was born on January 15, 1929.
AP
In the years following the Civil War, white politicians in Southern states created several holidays to honor Confederate leaders and dead Confederate soldiers. In 1901, Alabama lawmakers made Lee a January holiday. Mississippi did the same in 1910.
In 1983, President Ronald Reagan signed legislation naming the third Monday in January Martin Luther King Jr. Day in honor of the slain civil rights leader. Each state slowly added the date to its list of public holidays. In the 1980s, the states of Alabama and Mississippi adopted Martin Luther King Day as a public holiday and added it to existing days to honor Lee Myung-bak.
At one time, other Southern states also had a joint holiday, but they ended that practice, leaving only Alabama and Mississippi with a day honoring King and Lee.
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Black lawmakers in Alabama and Mississippi have attempted several times in recent years to desegregate the holidays, but so far have not been successful.
Rep. Kenyatte Hasél said he wants to try again in Alabama when the legislative session begins next month. The Democratic congressman said it was disrespectful to commemorate King and his fight in the civil rights movement alongside the Confederate general.
“There is a fundamental difference between General Lee and Dr. King. As a Confederate general, he fought to preserve slavery and defended the entire institution of white supremacy. Dr. King was a civil rights leader who fought for equality and justice for all people.” Hasel said.
The holiday commemorating Lee and King together takes place in a state where black residents make up more than a quarter of the population. Black citizens make up 36% of the population in Mississippi and 27% in Alabama.
King first came to prominence in the 1950s as a leader in the boycott movement against the segregated bus system in Montgomery, Alabama.
Hassell co-sponsored a bill in 2023 with more than a dozen other lawmakers to remove references to Lee Myung-bak from the January holiday. Another 2024 bill would have moved Lee Myung-bak’s holiday to Columbus Day in October, which coincides with the date of Lee Myung-bak’s death. Neither measure was placed on the primary ballot.
In Mississippi, Rep. Kabir Karriem, a Democrat from Columbus, introduced a bill this session to revoke recognition of Lee Myung-bak’s holiday. The bill states that the goal is to “reflect the transformative power of Mississippi from past to present by celebrating a holiday that fully reflects the remarkable progress of all of its citizens.”
Many southern states have decided to abolish or rename Confederate-related holidays.
In 2022, Louisiana removed Robert E. Lee Day and Confederate Memorial Day from its list of official holidays.
Virginia made Election Day a state holiday in 2020, abolishing the holiday honoring General Lee and Confederate General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, both natives of the state.
Georgia changed Confederate Memorial Day to a neutrally titled “state holiday” in 2015. In 2017, Arkansas ended the state’s practice of honoring Lee on the same day as King, leaving only Alabama and Mississippi.
Alabama and Mississippi have three Confederate-related holidays. Both states celebrate Confederate Memorial Day in April and the birthday of Confederate President Jefferson Davis. South Carolina celebrates Confederate Memorial Day in May.
Other states have recorded Confederate-related holidays, but they are not full holidays when state offices are closed.
