Did you know some states celebrate Robert E. Lee day the same day as Martin Luther King Jr Day?

Robert E Lee would probably be disappointed.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/robert-e-lee-opposed-confederate-monuments

Yes, in Virginia it was always Lee, Jackson, King Day. It was only changed fairly recently.

Interesting. Kid studies history in an online college course, plans to major in that at some university. Robert E. Lee was a rather interesting guy, interesting study.

Alabama still has this on the books.

I admit, I was a little surprised when someone pointed this out to me a few weeks ago on another forum.

January 19 was declared Robert E Lee Day back in 1889. There’s only a few states that still have it & it is NO longer a Federal holiday, but has been demoted to a state holiday. Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, & Florida have Lee Day on January 19. Here in Georgia, Lee Day aka Confederate Generals Day is the Friday after Thanksgiving. It’s only a state holiday & many don’t celebrate it because they don’t remember that it exists. Since it is only a state holiday, it’s NOT a day off unless you work for one of the state offices & then it is up to the individual office so many don’t close.

When I was growing up, We celebrated Washington’s birthday & Lincoln’s birthday which were both in February. Corporations lobbied DC because they didn’t want to give TWO paid days off in February, so there was a compromise merging the 2 days into President’s Day The same thing is happening with Lee & King. If you pay attention to the sales ads on TV, we are celebrating MLK Day with NO mention of Lee. IF the press would STOP stirring the pot, Lee Day would be gone & a blip in history!!! Sadly, the press is NOT going to stop pointing it out & viewers are NOT going to stop being insulted. If viewers would STOP reacting to the reports, the MSM would have NOTHING to report & maybe they would revert back to reporting actual news!!!

@LadyMarissa I never heard of Lee Day until today. I grew up in the suburbs of NYC and DC. I did live in TN and NC for a while as an adult, and if there was mention of it I don’t remember. While I was in NC on either Veterans Day or Memorial Day, I don’t remember which, the company I worked for had a room with huge flags honoring servicemen, and one if the huge flags was Confederate. That was the day I learned some Southerners use that flag with pride of their family and the south. To me it was just a scary flag until then. Well, it’s still a scary flag to ME if I see it. Meaning, I’m personally wary of the people flying it that they want to kill me.

I’m with you about stirring the pot does keep things alive, but did you read my link? 1973, 2013, some of this is fairly recent. I’m assuming states not mentioned never created a state holiday for him, or it was so long ago and then removed that it’s irrelevant now.

@cheebdragon Maybe some of the former Confederate states need to read your link. Thanks for posting it, interesting read.

Can you imagine if Germany did that?

@ragingloli “Can you imagine if Germany did that?”

Hitler day? It’s Heritage, not hate… I can picture that with a little swastika on an aryan’s bumper: “Erbe, nicht Hass.”

@gorillapaws
Hitler day, falling on the same date, purely coincidentally of course/s, as Anne Frank day.

I wouldn’t be surprised.

@ragingloli Exactly right! The idea that it’s the same day as MLK Day is outright disgusting no matter how much someone wants to defend why it’s ok to honor Lee, which I don’t think is ok anyway. Having Lee Day is actually worse to me than leaving a statute up. At least with the statue they can put a plaque about the history, although I don’t agree with having the statues in places of honor like a key place in a town square or in a government building.

i didn’t know but I’m not surprised considering the racism still prevalent in this country.

Some in Texas call it James Earl Ray Day….just digusting.

@smudges AKA some are saying the quiet part out loud.