Robert E. Lee Day


Robert E. Lee Day, also called Lee's Birthday, is a public holiday commemorating the birth of Robert E. Lee, observed each year on the third Monday in January. The holiday is observed in the U.S. South, particularly in Alabama and Mississippi.
Although Lee's actual January 19 birthdate remains a legal holiday in the Florida statute books, by and large it is not observed. Alabama and Mississippi, celebrate it together with Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Arkansas combined the observance of Robert E. Lee Day with Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in 1985, after two years of requiring state employees to select between the two holidays or their own birthday as a day off from work. In 2017, it passed a law removing General Lee's name from the January holiday and instead establishing a state memorial day on the second Saturday of October in honor of Lee. Robert E. Lee Day is also celebrated in Tennessee.