General Lee honoured by Southern states on Martin Luther King Day
As the US marks Martin Luther King Jr. Day, honouring the civil rights hero, two southern states have chosen to honour Confederate General Lee. Robert E. Lee is the best known Confederate general from the American civil war.
Alabama and Mississippi have chosen to recognise General Lee on the third Monday in January. Their state governments have chosen to create holidays over a century ago honouring the Virginian general who fought against President Lincoln and the Union. When the federal government established Martin Luther King Jr. Day in the 1980s, the two southern states chose to combine the two events.
Both men have birthdays in January. Lee was born on the 19th in 1807 while King was born on the 15th in 1929.
In the decades that followed the Civil War, politicians in southern states chose to honour Confederate leaders and dead Confederate soldiers. When the civil rights movement began in the 20th century, many statues were erected in southern states to commemorate the Confederacy. Lawmakers in Alabama named a January state holiday for Lee in 1901, with Mississippi following in 1910.
In 1983, President Ronald Reagan signed into legislation that the third Monday of January will be Martin Luther King Jr. Day, honouring the civil rights pioneer. States slowly adopted the day among their state holidays including Alabama and Mississippi.
Other southern states also had at a joint holiday at one point but have all ended the practice. This has left only Alabama and Mississippi as the last two states which honour King and Lee simultaneously.
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