Robert E. Lee Day

[The Dark Lord]

Hey, Robert E. Lee Day falls on the same day as Martin Luther King Day, and I was wondering if anybody was actually going to celebrate this. I'm not, personally, but I was wondering if anyone actually celebrated this.

 

For those who don't know, Robert E. Lee was the general of the Confederate States Army and is regarded as a nationalistic symbol in the southern US.

[Star_Fox]

robert E day?! never heard of it. :blink:

[Amaranth_GTO]

I shall celebrate it the way I celebrate most holidays, by not going to school. :thumbsup:

[Wizz]

Wasn't he defeated by Grant and what not?

[The Dark Lord]

Wasn't he defeated by Grant and what not?

 

Yes, but he's still ranked among the greatest American generals, and he actually was a pretty good tactician.

 

http://www.militarygenius.com/world_empires_empire/forgotten_military_geniuses.html

[Riku3220]

Robert E. Lee Day... Is on the same day as Martin Luther King Jr. Day?

 

That's [bleep]ing hilarious!

[pegpenguin]

This was probably put up by the southern states so that they wouldn't have to work on this day either, and so they wouldn't have to support an african american. Sorry to say this, but the confederacy is DEAD, it always will be DEAD, and it will NEVER return. lol

[Dizzle229]

As riku said, that's pretty funny.

 

Although he was a Confederate general, even here in the north, I don't think Robert E. Lee is really regarded as a bad guy.

 

President Andrew Johnson, in a proclamation dated December 25, 1868 (15 Stat. 711), gave an unconditional pardon to those who "directly or indirectly" rebelled against the United States.

 

...unconditionally, and without reservation, to all and every person who directly or indirectly participated in the late insurrection or rebellion, a full pardon and amnesty for the offence of treason against the United States, or of adhering to their enemies during the late civil war, with restoration of all rights, privileges, and immunities under the Constitution and the laws which have been made in pursuance thereof.[42]

Lee, with this full amnesty pardon by President Johnson could not be held liable for treason or insurrection against the United States. Lee was posthumously officially reinstated as a United States citizen by President Gerald Ford in 1975.

[pegpenguin]

doesn't change the fact that the confederacy is gone and never coming back :P like 90% of the south still think it will, and they think they won hahaha

[MysteriousWaters]

He was a good general, I will admit there, rather clever

 

However he sided with his home state rather than the union, which many of people hate him for

 

I duno if anyone celebrates it though because of it being overshadowed by MLK Day

[Abc1230]

doesn't change the fact that the confederacy is gone and never coming back :P like 90% of the south still think it will, and they think they won hahaha

The south is a separate country.

[obfuscator]

From what I know about Lee he definitely deserves a "day", he was an excellent tactician and by far the best general of the civil war - losing at gettysburg he made a bad decision and found it did too much damage to recover from.

As a person as well, I've heard he was very fair and honest, and well respected.

 

Having it fall on Martin Luther King Jr. day is weird though.

[pegpenguin]

how is the south a separate country? The north won in the civil war and they never sperated from the USA, so the south is part of the USA, which is this country.

[Diesel]

Talk about ironic.

 

I'll stick to Martian Luther King Jr. Day.

[Lenticular_J]

... How do you celebrate either one?

 

Oh wait: Martin Luther King Jr. Day: encourage a black person!

Robert E. Lee Day: Be ... a good leader?

 

Both are relatively hard to celebrate. Both are named after good dudes. That's about the only connection and reason there's a holiday. At some point, you can't really give an award, so why not just give a national holiday about 'em?

[Abc1230]

I'm scared to ask how you celebrate memorial day :ohnoes:

[Giordano]

Actually, Robert E. Lee was born on January 19, this Tuesday.

[Riku3220]

Actually, Robert E. Lee was born on January 19, this Tuesday.

Martin Luther King was born on January 15th, last Friday

[Giordano]

Actually, Robert E. Lee was born on January 19, this Tuesday.

Martin Luther King was born on January 15th, last Friday

I know, but we celebrate it on the third Monday. Robert E. Lee day is celebrated on his birthday.

 

Unless Wiki is lying to me.

[Tom_Servo]

This was probably put up by the southern states so that they wouldn't have to work on this day either, and so they wouldn't have to support an african american. Sorry to say this, but the confederacy is DEAD, it always will be DEAD, and it will NEVER return. lol

 

Yes, recognizing the ACTUAL BIRTHDAY of a well loved general was an attempt by southerners to be covertly racist towards african americans despite THIS day existing nearly ONE HUNDRED years before MLK day which was created in the 1980's and not any particular meaningful date. Yeah, that makes sense.

[Harakiri]

I really think some of the holidays my district gets off are stupid as hell. MLK day is really not that big a celebration that we need the day off, is it? I guess it's because my school district is becoming predominantly black, but I still don't see the point. Kind of like how my district celebrates Cazmeer Pulaski day. It makes no sense at all, he had nothing to do with Illinois. I guess it is the fact that he was Polish, and Chicago is really Polish, but even then I live two and a half hours away from Chicago.

 

Whatever, I think there are too many holidays in the way of getting days off in summer, when I can go out and do stuff instead of be trapped with my laptop in front of a fireplace.

 

This was probably put up by the southern states so that they wouldn't have to work on this day either, and so they wouldn't have to support an african american. Sorry to say this, but the confederacy is DEAD, it always will be DEAD, and it will NEVER return. lol

Too add to this, you've apparently never been to the South, because last time I was in Savannah and Atlanta, I was surrounded by African American peoples. New Orleans was the same way. I think the only state that I was not surrounded by African Americans as much was Florida. That's stupid racism, since the South is predominantly black.

And I don't think the south has been as racist as you make it sound since the mid 1800's. The only reason people hang confederate flags in the south is because it was a major part of southern culture.

Also, since you seem illiterate in history, slavery was the straw that broke the horses back. The North was federal, and the South wanted the states to make up their own minds on stuff. That was the main reason the war was fought, slavery was used, in my opinion, as a history teachers easy way to teach fourth grade U.S history. Slavery was just the point that pushed the war, which is probably why the other reasons for the war are usually overlooked.

[Riku3220]

I really think some of the holidays my district gets off are stupid as hell. MLK day is really not that big a celebration that we need the day off, is it? I guess it's because my school district is becoming predominantly black, but I still don't see the point. Kind of like how my district celebrates Cazmeer Pulaski day. It makes no sense at all, he had nothing to do with Illinois. I guess it is the fact that he was Polish, and Chicago is really Polish, but even then I live two and a half hours away from Chicago.

 

Whatever, I think there are too many holidays in the way of getting days off in summer, when I can go out and do stuff instead of be trapped with my laptop in front of a fireplace.

I'm sure every school district has MLK day off just in case SOMEBODY sues about racism.

[Harakiri]

I really think some of the holidays my district gets off are stupid as hell. MLK day is really not that big a celebration that we need the day off, is it? I guess it's because my school district is becoming predominantly black, but I still don't see the point. Kind of like how my district celebrates Cazmeer Pulaski day. It makes no sense at all, he had nothing to do with Illinois. I guess it is the fact that he was Polish, and Chicago is really Polish, but even then I live two and a half hours away from Chicago.

 

Whatever, I think there are too many holidays in the way of getting days off in summer, when I can go out and do stuff instead of be trapped with my laptop in front of a fireplace.

I'm sure every school district has MLK day off just in case SOMEBODY sues about racism.

 

I never remember getting the day off when I lived in Florida.

Also added some history and statistics to my previous post based on that one idiots post.

[Riku3220]

I really think some of the holidays my district gets off are stupid as hell. MLK day is really not that big a celebration that we need the day off, is it? I guess it's because my school district is becoming predominantly black, but I still don't see the point. Kind of like how my district celebrates Cazmeer Pulaski day. It makes no sense at all, he had nothing to do with Illinois. I guess it is the fact that he was Polish, and Chicago is really Polish, but even then I live two and a half hours away from Chicago.

 

Whatever, I think there are too many holidays in the way of getting days off in summer, when I can go out and do stuff instead of be trapped with my laptop in front of a fireplace.

I'm sure every school district has MLK day off just in case SOMEBODY sues about racism.

 

I never remember getting the day off when I lived in Florida.

Also added some history and statistics to my previous post based on that one idiots post.

Huh. All 4 school districts I've been in in 3 different states all had MLK day off.

[The Dark Lord]

doesn't change the fact that the confederacy is gone and never coming back :P like 90% of the south still think it will, and they think they won hahaha

 

Not true.

 

If you've actually been to the South you would know that although there is a rivalry between the South and the North, most people in the South aren't the stereotypical Rednecks that you just described. The rivalry is more along the lines of "the people in the North are Yanks, and we're Southerners". From what I've seen, Southerners treat 'Yanks' better than 'Yanks' treat Southerners. When I moved into Kansas during fifth grade, I was ridiculed a lot because I was from the South and had a Southern accent. Some of the teachers even treated me like I was intellectually inferior because I was from the South...

 

In rural areas of the South, you have more of the stereotypical stuff, but it's completely different in metropolitan areas. It really just depends on where you go, but it's by no means a majority of the population.

 

I will agree a little bit about the racism. There is still a large amount of racism due to the predominantly black population that has finally overwhelmed the white population, especially in poverty-stricken regions. It exists on both sides, and both sides accuse each other of wrongdoing. The blacks argue that the whites are repressing them, and the whites argue that the blacks are stealing from them, murdering them, and raping their daughters. In these areas you have a lot of crime from the black community (thus fueling white resentment against blacks); there are just a lot of problems in these areas, and I don't really see them ending anytime soon. In metropolitan areas, however, there is a lot less racism. Younger whites are generally more tolerant. Of course, these are just my observations; people in these aforementioned areas might view things differently from how I just described them.