(AP) – Every third Monday in January, Arkansas state offices
are closed in observance of an unlikely holiday: the shared birthdays of slain
civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. and Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.
Now Arkansas’ Republican governor is reviving an effort to remove Lee from the
holiday. But he faces resistance from opponents who complain the move belittles
the state’s Confederate heritage and from black lawmakers worried about a plan
to set aside another day to honor Lee.
Arkansas has had a holiday in honor of Lee since 1947 and one for King since
1983. The Legislature voted to combine the two in 1985.
Three states commemorate both men on the same day. The other two are Alabama
and Mississippi.
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