Did you know several states still celebrate Confederate Memorial Day?
Seriously, still.
By Asher Kohn
Over the weekend, a neo-Nazi group gathered at Stone Mountain, a park outside Atlanta etched with images of Confederate leaders. The “Confederate Mount Rushmore,” situated in a majority-black county, became the site of protests honoring — maybe the wrong word — an official Georgia state holiday: Confederate Memorial Day.
And Georgia isn’t alone. The Peach State is joined by eight other states with some form of holiday recognizing the Confederate cause, though they don’t all commemorate it on the same date.
Confederate Memorial Day was first declared in 1874. In fact, proclaiming the occasion was one of the first actions of the post-Reconstruction Georgia general assembly. The holiday was meant to honor the nearly 300,000 Confederate soldiers who died in the Civil War. It also honors the “Lost Cause” of Southern chivalry, marred forever by the wartime destruction visited on the South, where Sherman’s March is still remembered by many as a war crime.
Courts are closed throughout Alabama in observance. State offices are closed in South Carolina when that state marks the holiday in May. Schools, for the most part, stay open.
But there has been plenty of pushback against the holiday. Enough to prompt Georgia to rename April 27 on the official calendar to a simple (if vague) “state holiday” — probably a wise move in a state that’s nearly one-third African American. Though not as wise as doing away with the holiday altogether.
Last year an Alabama revenue commissioner made national headlines by shirking Confederate Memorial Day to keep the county courthouse open. It turns out, though, he cared less about politics than efficiency. In years past, people had come to apply for licenses and were frustrated that the courthouse was closed for the little-known holiday. One of the most frustrating office products ever made became a pullquote — “I don’t think Microsoft adds Confederate Memorial Day to my Outlook,” he quipped.
In contrast, 43 states, the federal government and Washington, DC all give Juneteenth (emancipation day, basically) some form of recognition. Ironically, all of the states that observe Confederate Memorial Day are among them.
