Robert E. Lee Day | |
---|---|
Robert E. Lee in 1870 | |
Also called | Lee's Birthday |
Observed by |
|
Type | State holiday |
Significance | Confederate General in Chief's birthday |
Date | Third Monday in January |
2022 date | January 17 (2022-01-17) |
2023 date | January 16 (2023-01-16) |
2024 date | January 15 (2024-01-15) |
2025 date | January 20 (2025-01-20) |
Frequency | Annual |
Related to |
Robert E. Lee Day is a state holiday in parts of the Southern US, commemorating the Confederate general Robert E. Lee.[1]
January 19 was marked by the governor of Tennessee as Robert E. Lee Day in 2013.[2][3]
Texas made "Lee Day" a holiday in 1931.[4] In 1973, "Lee Day" was renamed Confederate Heroes Day.[5]
Florida Statute 683.01(d) marks January 19 as Robert E. Lee Day, although no offices or schools close down for it.[6]
Alabama[7] and Mississippi[8][9] observe it on the third Monday in January, in order to split the date with the federal holiday Martin Luther King Jr. Day.[10]
Arkansas combined the observance of Robert E. Lee Day with Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in 1985, after two years of requiring state employees to select between the two holidays or their own birthday as a day off from work.[11] In 2017, it passed a law removing General Lee's name from the January holiday and instead establishing a state memorial day on the second Saturday of October in honor of Lee.[12] In 2000 Virginia experimented with splitting Lee–Jackson–King Day into a separate Lee–Jackson Day on the Friday before Martin Luther King Jr. Day, dropping the former in 2020. Georgia formerly called the Friday after Thanksgiving Robert E. Lee Day; now it is only an unnamed paid holiday.[13]
"House Bill 126, 42nd Legislature Regular Session. Chapter 8. Approved and Effective January 30, 1931 as Robert E. Lee's Birthday.; Senate Bill 60, 63rd Legislature Regular Session. Chapter 221. Approved June 1, 1973 and Effective August 27, 1973 as Confederate Heroes Day. This bill deleted June 3rd as a holiday for Jefferson Davis' birthday and combined the two into Confederate Heroes Day."
Three states celebrate civil rights leader Martin Luther King and Civil War General Robert E. Lee on the same day.
The incident, however, highlighted an awkward truth about Mississippi's Martin Luther King Jr Day: that it is also Robert E Lee Day.