What did R.E. Lee ever do for Arkansas?

Why does Arkansas celebrate Robert E. Lee with a state holiday?

Why do they celebrate a guy who became the face of a group of rebel states that seceded because its wealthiest residents were afraid they'd have to set their slaves free?

Why do they celebrate him on the same day as a man who made a positive difference on the country as a whole?

That's the sort of things I wonder when we honor Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert E. Lee on the same day in Arkansas. Two contradicting characters: King lead the way forward for not only black equality, but that of other disenfranchised people too, becoming not only an American figure, but also a world one. Lee married into a rich slave owning family and fought for states who sought to keep the institution of black slavery and when the war was lost, he lent his voice to those who sought to keep blacks from voting.

It seems that it makes sense why one is honored nationally and the other is honored by only five states: Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and Florida. All of those, except Georgia, celebrate him on Martin Luther King Day. In Lee's own home state, Virginia, he is honored on the Friday before Martin Luther King Jr. Day with Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson, another Confederate general.

So why is he honored? He didn't really do anything for Arkansas, except have its able-bodied men shipped eastward to fight in Virginia. The Confederacy as a whole seemed to treat Arkansas as just a jumping point into Missouri, which it considered a prize. After it was obvious that they would never take Missouri, Arkansas was pretty much left abandoned, with invading Union forces taking most of the state with little effort. By the end of the war, Confederate Arkansas was pretty much reduced to the southwest corner of the state. By the time it was over, 10,000 Arkansans — Union, Confederate and civilian — had lost their lives.

Arkansan soldiers returned to a state that had been prosperous in the late 1850s reduced to a husk of its former self due to the war. Many of them lost everything and they went through many years of rebuilding what they had lost. In some scholars' opinions, Arkansas, like much of the south, never fully recovered from the Civil War.

Lee on the other hand returned to a largely comfortable life in Virginia, eventually becoming the president of Washington College in Lexington, Virginia, from 1865 to 1870. During that time Lee, along with other prominent Southerners, signed an Aug. 26, 1868, letter to Gen. William Rosecrans that opposed allowing blacks the right to vote following the Civil War.

On the other hand, almost 100 years later, King led a 1965 march from Selma, Alabama, to the Capitol in Montgomery to advocate for equal voting rights.

Now, I've heard the argument “well, if they (by “they” it's meant black people) get Martin Luther King Jr. Day then we (“we” being white people) should get Robert E. Lee Day.” That argument misses the point of honoring King. Throughout most of the country, as well as the world, King is not regarded as someone who only did things for black people. He's regarded as someone who transformed the status quo, not only helping black people on the way toward equality, but also helping change how whites see themselves in relation to minorities in the US.

Lee did none of that. Lee is seen by many as a southern icon, but in reality, the South was, and still is, more than the Confederacy. Many southerners, including Arkansans, fought and died to preserve the Union. Reducing the South to the Confederacy does it a great disservice, as it narrows what a Southerner is down to a government that existed only four years and ties that identity eternally to slavery.

Some will argue that those who don't think there should be a Robert E. Lee Day in Arkansas, especially on the same day as Martin Luther King Jr. Day, are somehow trying to destroy their heritage. I don't see that as the case as the descendant of a Confederate soldier myself, and believe that there's a difference between remembering our ancestors and honoring a government that most of us would consider reprehensible today. We can remember acts of bravery from soldiers on both sides without having to elevate the government they fought for or try to justify the atrocities they committed. Not honoring the Confederacy will not take away from any of that.

So maybe, today will be the last time we will celebrate the two days together. But, I kind of doubt it.  

Follow Joseph on Facebook