20. Lee-Jackson Day
From January, 1889, Robert E. Lee’s birthday, on the 19th of the month, was celebrated as a state holiday in the Commonwealth of Virginia. In 1904 the date of the holiday was changed to accommodate the birthday of Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson and the celebration was moved. The third Friday of January was designated Lee-Jackson Day, a state holiday observed with solemnity throughout Virginia. The gravesites of both men received decorations and wreath-laying by state and local officials, parades were held to honor both men. Schools, state offices, and banks were closed. In 1983 the federal government designated the third Monday of January as Martin Luther King Day.
Virginia responded by designating the holiday Lee-Jackson-King Day, evidently blind to the irony of commemorating the civil rights leader alongside two men who fought to defend slavery. The holiday remained until 2000, when Lee-Jackson Day was moved to the Friday preceding Martin Luther King Day. The result was a four-day weekend for some, including state offices. During the second decade of the 21st century, several communities in Virginia began to ignore the Lee-Jackson holiday in response to protests, among them Fredericksburg, Charlottesville, and the state capital of Richmond. A separate Robert E. Lee Day remains a holiday in some Southern states in the 21st century.