Exploring the Unique Presidents Day Celebration in Alabama: Honoring Washington and Jefferson

Today is the official holiday marking George Washington's birthday, according to the United States government. The first president was born on February 22, 1732, and the federal government's holiday known as Washington's Birthday is observed every year on the third Monday in February, regardless of the date.

On July 2, 2020, the visitors center in Keystone, South Dakota, offers a view of Mount Rushmore National Monument. Presidents Day is observed every year on the third Monday in February.

For the majority of the country, it is just Presidents Day (no apostrophe, please), a day to celebrate everyone who have served as the nation's chief executive. If specific presidents are mentioned in state declarations, it is usually Washington and Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, who led the country through the Civil War.

And that's where things get sticky, at least in Alabama, where old scars tend to fester.

Alabama's official Presidents' Day holiday honors Washington and Thomas Jefferson rather than Lincoln. Jefferson, a Virginian, was the third president of the United States and the major author of the Declaration of Independence. In contrast to Lincoln, who was born on February 12, his birthday falls in April.

Alabama is one of only two states to have someone other than Lincoln on its holiday calendar, the other being Arkansas, where today marks Washington's birthday and Daisy Bates Day. Bates was a human rights activist who helped integrate Little Rock's Center High School in 1957.

History of Presidents' Day

The concept of a day to celebrate Washington dates back to the 1870s, when Sen. Steven Wallace Dorsey advocated adding the president's birthday (February 22) to the list of existing national holidays. President Rutherford B. Hayes made it official by signing the federal law in 1879 to honor Washington.

By this point, the Civil War had ended, and many Northern states had added Lincoln, who was slain by a Southern sympathizer on April 15, 1865, to their official celebrations.

Southern states did not follow suit and still do not. No Confederate state mentions Lincoln by name on Presidents Day.

South Carolina celebrates Washington's Birthday/Presidents Day; Mississippi, Georgia, and Virginia mark George Washington Day; Florida, North Carolina, and Louisiana do not observe a holiday; while Texas and Tennessee celebrate Presidents Day.