How South Carolina observes Confederate Memorial Day and how that could change

The days of South Carolina having a statutory holiday to commemorate fallen Confederate soldiers may be numbered.

South Carolina currently recognizes May 10 as Confederate Memorial Day, meaning state government offices, for the most part, are closed.

This year, South Carolina senators approved a bill that would give state employees a choice of observing Confederate Memorial Day.

The bill began as a proposal to add the Juneteenth on June 19 as a new state holiday. Instead of adding a 14th state holiday, the bill would create a floating holiday that workers could take on Confederate Memorial Day on May 10, for Juneteenth, or for any other day they choose, according to the bill.

Subscriber exclusive: How the Central community is coming together to save a historically Black neighborhood

It wasn't immediately clear from the language of the bill whether state officers would remain closed on Confederate Memorial Day like they do currently or if they could end up closed on Juneteenth, the AP said.

The bill currently resides in the House judiciary committee.

The Greenville News called and emailed national, state, and Greenville representatives of the Sons of Confederate Veterans seeking comment but did not get a response. A worker inside Greenville's Museum & Library of Confederate History declined to comment for this article.

Confederate Memorial Day remembers those who fought and died in the American Civil War as part of the Confederacy. South Carolina is among three states — including Alabama and Mississippi — that observe it with a legal holiday, though the dates vary.

Along with the closure of state offices, the county government offices in Anderson County are also closed on May 10. Confederate Memorial is one of 13 holidays that Anderson County will observe this year.

Neither Greenville, Spartanburg, nor Pickens counties honor Confederate Memorial Day with a legal holiday.

Earlier this year: Confederate flag shirt of Greenville County Council member draws protest

Pickens County Administrator Ken Roper said he knows that some counties and states have 12, 13, or 14 paid holidays, but Pickens County has traditionally observed the same 11 for years.

One of those holidays is Memorial Day, which Roper said, "in my mind, applies to all soldiers in that situation."

According to the state Department of Archives and History (SCDAH), the official state recognition of the Confederate Memorial holiday began with the passage of Act 80 (approved Feb. 7, 1896) which made January 19 and May 10 legal holidays.

Although the statute did not specify the reason for those days being holiday, January 19 is the anniversary of the birthday of Robert E. Lee and May 10 is the anniversary of the day that Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson died from wounds suffered at the Battle of Chancellorsville (1863) and the day that Confederate President Jefferson Davis was captured by Federal troops (1865), according to SCDAH.

In 1898, Act 494 made June 3 a legal holiday. June 3 is the anniversary of the birthday of Jefferson Davis.

Act 860 (1970), Act 614 (1978) and Act 151 (1983) reaffirm the three dates as legal state holidays. The 1978 act added January 15 (Martin Luther King Jr.’s Birthday), but authorized state employees one day less than the total number of holidays and state employees “shall disclaim one holiday, other than a nationally recognized holiday," the SCDAH said.

Act 748 in 2000 dropped January 19 and June 3 as legal state holidays, but confirmed January 15 (Martin Luther King Jr. Day) and May 10 (Confederate Memorial Holiday).

"South Carolina has never deviated from its commitment to the myth of white supremacy, from the moment that it fired the first shot of the Civil War, to the first lawsuit it filed in opposition to the Voting Rights Act, to its resistance of the implementation of Brown Vs. the Board of Education," said Efia Nwangaza, an attorney and civil/human rights activist in Greenville.

Nwangaza led a demonstration in downtown Greenville in 2021 to protest Confederate Memorial Day and speak out against a downtown monument.

Greenville continues that celebration of the myth of white supremacy by maintaining the Confederate Memorial Garden on Main Street, Nwangaza said.

The Confederate Monument on Main Street, she said, "should be taken down and, at a minimum, be put in Springwood Cemetery along with the confederate soldiers and not be in the face of Black people for everyday life and with our tax dollars."

This article originally appeared on Greenville News: South Carolina's Confederate day: How it's observed; changes proposed