Encyclopedia of American Holidays and National Days

On 15 January, people in the USA celebrate Martin Luther King Jr Day. This is a national (federal) holiday, first celebrated nationally in 1986 – though some places first celebrated it earlier (Atlanta, Georgia in 1971). January 19 is the birthday of Robert E. Lee, the Confederate general, and this event is celebrated in Mississippi and Arkansas, and is an official state holiday in Florida. Other Confederate notables, Jefferson Davis and Stonewall Jackson, also had their birthdays celebrated and, for a while, these were combined into a Confederates Memorial Day, first celebrated in 1877, but this has largely disappeared. Not...