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Alabama and Mississippi to honor Robert E. Lee on Martin Luther King Jr. Day
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — The U.S. is set to mark Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the federal holiday set aside to honor the life of the civil rights icon. But in Alabama and Mississippi, Monday is also Robert E. Lee Day in honor of the Confederate general.
The two states recognize King and Lee on the third Monday in January.
Their state governments created holidays more than a century ago to honor Lee and later combined the day with the federal holiday established in the s to honor King.
The strange juxtaposition of honoring men from vastly different legacies has persisted for decades.
How it happened
Both men have January birthdays.
Lee was born Jan. 19, King was born Jan. 15,
In the years after the Civil War, white politicians in southern states created multiple holidays to honor Confederate leaders and dead Confederate soldiers. Alabama lawmakers in named a January state holiday for Lee. Mississippi did the same in
President Ronald Reagan in signed legislation naming the third Monday of January as Martin Luther King Jr.
Day to honor the slain civil rights leader.
States slowly added the day to their roster of state holidays. Alabama and Mississippi in the s adopted Martin Luther King Day as a state holiday, adding it to their existing day honoring Lee.
Some other southern states at one time also had a joint holiday, but have ended that practice, leaving only Alabama and Mississippi with a single day honoring both King and Lee.
Efforts to separate
Black lawmakers in Alabama and Mississippi have made multiple attempts in recent years to separate the holidays.
But they have so far been unsuccessful.
Rep. Kenyatté Hassell said he wants to try again in Alabama in the legislative session begining next month.
Mzi tshomela biography of martin luther king day 2025 But he never got back to his poverty plans. The Biography. If you can't be a highway, just be a trail. Sale offer only available in the UK and Ireland 5 Martin was a great believer in peaceful protest, inspired by the Indian activist Mahatma Gandhi.It is disrespectful to King’s memory and the struggle of the civil rights movement to celebrate him alongside a Confederate general, Hassell, said Hassell, a Democrat from Montgomery.
“There are fundamental difference between General Lee and Dr. King. The Confederate general, he fought the preserve slavery and uphold the whole institution 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 comes in states where Black residents account for more than a quarter of the population. Black citizens make up 36% of the population in Mississippi and 27% in Alabama.
King first rose to prominence in the s as the leader of the boycott against the segregated bus system in Montgomery, Alabama.
Hassell in introduced legislation, co-sponsored with more than a dozen other lawmakers, that would remove the reference to Lee on the January holiday.
Another bill would have moved the Lee holiday to Columbus Day in October, which coincides with the month of his death. Neither bill made it to a floor vote.
In Mississippi, Rep. Kabir Karriem, a Democrat from Columbus, introduced legislation this session that would remove the recognition of Lee from the holiday.
Biography of john knox A statue built in his memory now stands in Washington D. James Earl Ray was convicted of his murder and spent the rest of his life in prison, despite claiming to be innocent. The first time all 50 states recognized the holiday was in See all.The bill states the purpose is to “reflect the transformative power of Mississippi from its past to its present by celebrating holidays that wholly reflect the remarkable strides made by all citizens.”
Fewer Confederate holidays across South
Many states in the South have opted to abolish or rename Confederate-related holidays.
Louisiana in struck Robert E.
Lee Day and Confederate Memorial Day from the list of official state holidays.
Virginia in scrapped a holiday honoring Lee and Confederate Gen. Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, both natives of the state, to make Election Day a state holiday.
Georgia in changed Confederate Memorial Day to the neutrally titled “State Holiday.” Arkansas in ended the state’s practice of commemorating Lee on the same day as King, leaving only Alabama and Mississippi remaining.
Alabama and Mississippi have three Confederate-related state holidays.
Both states mark Confederate Memorial Day in April and mark the birthday of Confederate President Jefferson Davis. South Carolina marks Confederate Memorial Day in May.
Other states have Confederate-related holidays on the books, but they are not full holidays when state offices close.