Robert E. Lee's birthday (January 19, 1807) had been celebrated as a Virginia holiday since 1889. In 1904, the legislature added the birthday of
Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson (January 21, 1824) to the holiday, and
Lee–Jackson Day was born.[1]
In 1983, the United States Congress declared January 15 to be a national holiday in honor of
civil rights leader
Martin Luther King Jr. Since 1978, Virginia had celebrated King's birthday in conjunction with
New Year's Day. To align with the
federal holiday, the Virginia legislature combined King's celebration with the existing Lee–Jackson holiday, in tribute to "defenders of causes."[2]
In 2000,
Virginia GovernorJim Gilmore proposed splitting Lee–Jackson–King Day into two separate holidays after debate arose over whether the nature of the holiday which simultaneously celebrated the lives of two
Confederate generals who fought to defend slavery and a
civil rights icon was incongruous.[3] The measure was approved and
Lee–Jackson Day and
Martin Luther King Jr. Day were celebrated separately, with Martin Luther King Jr. Day on the third Monday in January and
Lee–Jackson Day three days earlier on the preceding Friday.[4][5] The Lee–Jackson holiday was itself eliminated in 2020.[6]
See also
Monument Avenue, a Richmond avenue which had monuments to Confederate leaders and Arthur Ashe from 1996 to 2021
(federal) = federal holidays, (abbreviation) = state/territorial holidays, (religious) = religious holidays, (cultural) = holiday related to a specific
racial/ethnic group or
sexual minority, (week) = week-long holidays, (month) = month-long holidays, (36) =
Title 36 Observances and Ceremonies