Alabama, Mississippi also honoring Robert E. Lee on Martin Luther King Day
The United States is observing Martin Luther King Day, a federal holiday commemorating the life of the civil rights icon. But in Alabama and Mississippi, Monday is also Robert E. Lee Day, honoring the Confederate general.
The two countries recognized Kim and Lee on the third Monday of January. Their state government established the holiday to honor Lee more than a century ago, later merging the day with a federal holiday established in the 1980s to honor King.
This strange juxtaposition of paying homage to people from vastly different heritages has persisted for decades.
Both have birthdays in January. Lee was born on January 19, 1807. King was born on January 15, 1929.
Associated Press
In the years after the Civil War, white politicians in southern states created several holidays to honor Confederate leaders and fallen Confederate soldiers. In 1901, Alabama legislators designated January as Lee’s state holiday. In 1910, Mississippi did the same thing.
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. States slowly added the day to their list of state holidays. In the 1980s, Alabama and Mississippi designated Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a state holiday, adding it to existing days honoring Lee.
Some other Southern states also had a joint holiday at one time, but have now ended that practice, leaving only Alabama and Mississippi to devote a day to honor King and Lee.
Stephen F. Somerstein/Getty Images
Black lawmakers in Alabama and Mississippi have tried several times in recent years to separate the holidays, but so far have been unsuccessful.
Rep. Kenyatte Hassell said he hopes to try again when Alabama’s legislative session begins next month. The Democratic congressman said celebrating King with a Confederate general was disrespectful to King’s memory and the struggle of the civil rights movement.
“There is a fundamental difference between General Lee and Dr. King. As a Confederate general, he opposed the preservation of slavery and upheld the entire system of white supremacy. Dr. King was a civil rights leader who fought for equality and justice for all people,” Hassell said. .
The holiday celebrating Lee and King together occurs in a state where black residents make up more than a quarter of the population. Blacks make up 36% and 27% of the population in Mississippi and Alabama respectively.
King first came to prominence in the 1950s as a leader in the boycott of a segregated bus system in Montgomery, Alabama.
Hassell co-sponsored legislation in 2023 with more than a dozen other lawmakers that would have removed references to Lee during the January holiday. Another 2024 bill would move Lee’s holiday to Columbus Day in October, which coincides with the month of his death. Neither bill advanced to a floor vote.
In Mississippi, Democratic Rep. Kabir Karriem of Columbus introduced legislation this session to revoke Lee’s recognition. The purpose, the bill states, is to “reflect the transformative power of Mississippi from its past to its present by celebrating a holiday that fully reflects the remarkable progress made by all of its citizens.”
Many states in the South have chosen to abolish or rename Confederate-related holidays.
In 2022, Louisiana removed Robert E. Lee Day and Confederate Memorial Day from the list of official state holidays.
In 2020, Virginia canceled holidays honoring Lee and Confederate Gen. Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, both natives of the state, and made Election Day a state holiday.
In 2015, Georgia changed Confederate Memorial Day to the gender-neutral name “state holiday.” 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 state holidays related to the Confederacy. Both states observe Confederate Memorial Day in April and commemorate the birthday of Confederate President Jefferson Davis. South Carolina observes Confederate Memorial Day in May.
Other states also have holidays related to the Confederacy, but these are not full holidays when state offices are closed.
