State Offices Closed Today For Jefferson Davis’ Birthday
State offices and courts are closed today for the controversial observance of Jefferson Davis' Birthday holiday. The holiday is one of three that commemortaes ties to the Confederacy. The other two are Confederate General Robert E. Lee's birthday and Confederate Memorial Day, which honors those who died fighting for the south in the War Between the States. Lee's birthday is on the same day in January that honors civil rights icon Dr. Martin Luther King, Junior.
State facilities are the only ones closed today in honor of the former the man who served as President of the Confederate States of America. Federal, county and municipal offices remain open as do banks and mail will be delivered.
Alabama, Mississippi, Texas and Florida are the only states that observe the former Confederate president’s birthday. Alabama is, however, the only state remaining that gives state workers Davis’s birthday a day off.
Jeff Davis' was sworn-in as the chief executive of the successionist Confederacy on the steps of the Alabama State Capital, which was the Confederacy's first capital for only three months. His only involvment with Alabama is those few months he lived in the first White House of the Confederacy in Montgomery while organizing the new government.
The Davis and Lee birthdays and Confederate memorial Day commemorations remain highly controversial. Heritage groups argue that the day preserves Southern history and honors their ancestors. Conversely, civil rights organizations and critics condemn the observance, pointing out that it celebrates a government explicitly founded on the preservation of slavery and white supremacy.
There have been repeated efforts by advocacy groups, faith leaders, and state lawmakers to abolish or rename Confederate holidays in Alabama, though these efforts have largely stalled in the state legislature
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