What is Confederate Memorial Day and what is closed for the state-recognized holiday?
Today, April 28, is what is known as Confederate Memorial Day. Alabama is one of only a few states that have an official holiday recognizing the 250,000 Confederate Soldiers who lost their lives.
State offices, including state courts and ALEA offices, are closed to observe the holiday. However, mail will still run and federal offices will remain open.
If you are looking to get your STAR ID ahead of the nationwide May 7 enforcement date, ALEA offices will serve customers beginning back on Tuesday, April 29.
The confederate memorial holiday dates back to just one year after the war in Georgia.
The day is one of three Confederate-related state holidays celebrated in Alabama. The state jointly observes Robert E. Lee Day with Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in January and the birthday of Confederate President Jefferson Davis which is observed in June.
First celebrated in 1865, Confederate Memorial Day was made a state holiday in Alabama in 1901, according to the Encyclopedia of Alabama.
Alabama is one of the only few states in the U.S. that still recognizes confederate holidays. Mississippi and Florida observe it in April and South Carolina observes it in May. Texas has its own version, calling it Confederate Heroes Day, observed in June.
In 2023, Alabama State Sen. Vivian Davis Figures sponsored a bill that would separate the celebration of Lee and King, HB360. It was rejected in committee.
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