Tomorrow is the start of the first long weekend of the year. The first Federal holiday after New Year’s Day is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. The holiday is observed on the third Monday in January. Much of the time we lived in Virginia, the holiday was known as Lee-Jackson-King Day. Here’s how all that came about, as I understand it.
The Commonwealth of Virginia has been celebrating the birthdays of Robert E. Lee and Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson since 1889 — well actually Lee’s birthday since then; Jackson’s name was added to the holiday in 1904. In 1983 Congress declared a January event to be a national holiday in honor of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. Virginia merged the new Federal holiday, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day with their holiday — Lee-Jackson Day and observed the day as Lee-Jackson-King Day. So the holiday we celebrate on the third Monday in January was referred to as Lee-Jackson-King Day in Virginia from 1984 to 2000. In 2000, Virginia Governor Jim Gilmore proposed splitting Lee-Jackson-King Day into two separate holidays. Many were of the opinion that a holiday that celebrated both the lives of Confederate generals and a civil rights icon didn’t seem right. Lee-Jackson Day is now celebrated in Virginia on the Friday before Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Since 2000, some Virginia localities like Richmond, Fairfax, Lynchburg, Norfolk, and others have chosen not to observe Lee-Jackson Day.
So now you know “the rest of the story.” There used to be an old joke that a lot of Virginians thought there really was a person named Lee Jackson King. As I mentioned earlier, when the practice of combining the two holidays began in 1984, a lot of people thought it was strange, if not offensive, to have a single holiday that honored two Confederate generals and one of the greatest American civil rights leaders of the 20th century. I honestly never gave it much thought, but thinking back, if handled correctly, it might have been an opportunity to celebrate both while reflecting on human differences that have always existed and celebrate the fact that some, even if not enough, progress has been made in the civil rights area. Maybe it could have been a day to think about courage and sacrifice and reconciliation.
Obviously the movement to split Lee-Jackson-King Day was based on the idea that Martin Luther King deserves his own day — that combining two Civil War leaders and a civil rights leader is just wrong. I don’t know that I necessarily disagree with that, I just think if the two holidays had remained joined, it could have presented a unique opportunity to talk, learn and think about where we’ve been, where we are and what it means to be an American.
So happy Lee-Jackson Day and happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. They all made sacrifices for our Country and they were all Americans….
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