On 19 January 1959, Lee-Jackson Day, the Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals
and a three-judge federal court in Norfolk each issued rulings striking
down Virginia's Massive Resistance to school desegregation. King was very
much still alive and I would speculate no doubt found the ruling an
appropriate way to mark the day.

Jim Hershman


On Wed, Jan 15, 2014 at 2:47 PM, Tarter, Brent (LVA) <
[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Some Va-Hist subscribers recall back in 1980s and 1990s when Virginia had
> an official state holiday called Lee-Jackson-King Day. That mystified some
> Virginians and just about all non-Virginians. I well remember receiving
> puzzled messages asking, "Who was Lee Jackson King?"
>
>
>
> Here is how it came about and how it disappeared.
>
>
>
> In 1890, the General Assembly of Virginia designated 19 January, the
> birthday of Robert E. Lee, a public holiday. In 1904, the assembly changed
> the name of the holiday from Lee's Birthday to Lee-Jackson Day in order to
> honor Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson, too. He was born on 21 January.
>
>
>
> In 1970, the General Assembly directed that Lee-Jackson Day be the third
> Monday in January each year, creating a three-day holiday weekend, much as
> Congress did when moving the commemoration of George Washington's birthday
> (later President's Day) from the actual date of his birth to the third
> Monday in February.
>
>
>
> In 1978, then-State Senator L. Douglas Wilder persuaded the General
> Assembly to create a state holiday in honor of Martin Luther King Jr., but
> rather than commemorate King on his 15 January birthday or create another
> three-day holiday weekend, the assembly directed that 1 January, already a
> state and federal holiday, be Martin Luther King Jr. Day in Virginia.
>
>
>
> In 1984, the General Assembly amended the code to observe both Lee-Jackson
> Day and Martin Luther King Jr. Day on the third Monday in January to honor
> the three "defenders of causes," which is how that and the subsequent state
> laws respecting the holidays describe the three men. That created
> Virginia's Lee-Jackson-King Day and the mystification. Congress created an
> annual Martin Luther King Jr. holiday on the same third Monday in January
> beginning in 1986.
>
>
>
> In 2000, the General Assembly directed that Lee-Jackson Day be separately
> commemorated on the Friday before the third Monday in January, detaching
> Lee-Jackson Day from the state and federal Martin Luther King Jr. Day
> holidays.
>
>
>
> Brent Tarter
>
> The Library of Virginia
>
> [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
>
>
>
> Please visit the Library of Virginia's Web site at
> http://www.lva.virginia.gov
>
>
>
>
> ______________________________________
> To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the instructions at
> http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html
>

______________________________________
To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the instructions at
http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html