On Monday, April 25, the Georgia State Capitol will be closed for the Confederate Memorial Day holiday, but you won’t see it on the official state calendar.
Last summer, when some southern states did some soul searching amidst the mass shooting at predominately black Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, Georgia chose the superficial route. In a move to quiet the voices calling for the removal of all confederate symbols, including the holiday, Georgia simply renamed it. The new name?
State Holiday.
When the spokesman for Governor Nathan Deal, Brian Robinson, talked to the Atlanta Journal Constitution about the change, he had this to say:
“There will be a state holiday on that day,” he said. “Those so inclined can observe Confederate Memorial Day and remember those who died in that conflict.”
To end Confederate Memorial Day in Georgia, the governor would literally have to do nothing. The holiday must be declared each year by executive proclamation. Since 1984, every Georgia governor has issued the proclamation declaring the holiday. Even if Georgia were to elect a governor who declined to do so, April will still be Confederate History and Heritage Month. The Georgia General Assembly passed legislation in 2009 to make it so.
Georgia isn’t alone in continuing to celebrate the losing side in the Civil War. Other southern states including Alabama, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina Tennessee and Texas also commemorate fallen confederate soldiers each year.
Alabama, Arkansas and Mississippi celebrate Robert E. Lee’s birthday on January 19, the same day as the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. In 2015, a bill was introduced in Arkansas to remove Robert E. Lee day as a state holiday, leaving only the MLK holiday, but it failed in committee.
Image, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons
