Virginia will eliminate state holiday honoring confederate generals and make Election Day a holiday instead

Mark Frauenfelder 10:54 am Fri Feb 7, 2020

Lee-Jackson Day is a state holiday in Virginia, meant to honor Robert E. Lee and Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson as "defenders of causes." But the Virginia House voted to stop lionizing the slave-owning generals and instead establish an "Election Day" on the first Tuesday after the First Monday in November.

Not everyone is happy with the change, reports CNN:

Lee-Jackson Day, founded more than 100 years ago, is observed with Civil War-themed parades, wreath layings and reenactments hosted by Confederate memorial groups, though these celebrations are increasingly unpopular. Defenders of the holiday say it honors Virginia history.

"I think Stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Lee are some of the greatest men to have ever lived," a supporter named Carson Via told the Roanoke Times at last month's Lee-Jackson Day celebration in Lexington while dressed in a Civil War uniform. "Great men, and we're all getting washed away."

Virginia has struggled to confront its Confederate legacy in recent years. In April, a Virginia judge ruled that statues of Lee and Jackson in Charlottesville were "war monuments" that the city couldn't remove without permission from the state.

Image: CC0 Public Domain

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