• Mississippi observes Jefferson Davis’ birthday, combined with Memorial Day, as a state holiday.
• This combined holiday is one of three Confederate holidays observed in Mississippi.
• While other states have holidays honoring Davis, Mississippi is the only one to combine it with Memorial Day.
• There have been unsuccessful attempts to remove Confederate holidays from the Mississippi state calendar.

Mississippi will honor Confederate President Jefferson Davis this three-day weekend.

The state isn’t the only one to honor him with a state holiday or local celebration, but it is the only one to combine it with Memorial Day.

It’s the third of three Confederate holidays on the state calendar, starting with a celebration of Robert E. Lee and Martin Luther King Jr. in February and Confederate Memorial Day in April.

Here’s what you need to know about when and why Mississippi celebrates Confederate holidays and what other states still honor them.

Why does Mississippi celebrate Jefferson Davis?

Davis was born in Kentucky on June 3, 1808, but Mississippi pairs it with Memorial Day on the last Monday in May. The president of the Confederacy spent most of his life in the Magnolia State and served it in both houses of the U.S. Congress.

The Davis family moved to the Mississippi Territory in 1812. In 1824, he graduated from West Point, the U.S. Military Academy and served in the U.S. Army, according to the Mississippi Department of Archives and History.

Davis settled near family near Vicksburg, planted cotton and owned slaves in Warren County.

In 1845, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives and resigned in less than a year to fight with the Mississippi Rifles in the Mexican War. In 1847, he was wounded and later was appointed to fill a seat in the U.S. Senate.

In 1851, he resigned to run for governor of Mississippi but did not win. He campaigned for Franklin Pierce and served as the president’s secretary of war.

He was re-elected to the Senate in 1857.

He resigned and announced Mississippi was seceding from the Union four years later.

By October of 1861, he was president of the Confederate States of America.

After Lee surrendered, Davis and his family ran but were later captured. He was held on treason charges for two years. The federal government dropped charges against him in 1869.

By 1877, he moved to Beauvoir in Biloxi and died in New Orleans in 1889.

The Biloxi building now serves as a presidential library. It’s open daily and offers tours. The organization that maintains it will celebrate his 217th birthday on Saturday, May 31, with a showing of Shirley Temple’s “The Littlest Rebel” and a Mississippi Rifles Honor Salute. Admission is $15 per person, and movie tickets cost another $2.

Alabama also has a state holiday for Confederate President Jefferson Davis on the first Monday in June. In Florida, it’s a local observance, according to timeanddate.com, but not an official state holiday that offices and schools or businesses would close for.

Does anyone want Mississippi to drop Confederate holidays from the state calendar?

Yes. There were multiple bills to remove Lee’s birthday and Confederate Memorial Day from the state calendar in the most recent regular session of the Mississippi Legislature.

None were successful.

Mississippi still honors Robert E. Lee on MLK Day

Two U.S. states honor Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee on the federal holiday for Civil Rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. 

Martin Luther King Jr. Day is always scheduled to take place on the third Monday in January. President Ronald Regan signed the bill creating the holiday into federal law in 1983. It was first observed in 1986.

King was born on Jan. 15, 1929.

When the federal holiday was adopted in the 1980s, Mississippi and Alabama lawmakers opted to add it to an existing holiday honoring Confederate general Robert E. Lee. Many states in the South initially adopted this approach. Most, including Lee’s home state of Virginia, have since dropped celebrating Lee, who was born on Jan. 19, 1807.

Mississippi celebrates Confederate Memorial Day

Mississippi celebrated Confederate Memorial Day on Monday, April 28 this year. Only four states still honor the Civil War dead with a day off for public workers, though others still treat it as a holiday.

The Magnolia State takes it a step further and celebrates April as Confederate Heritage Month.

Confederate Memorial Day was created in Georgia on April 26, 1866. It honored the deaths of Confederate soldiers on the first anniversary of the day that Confederate Gen. Joseph Johnston surrendered the Army of Tennessee to Union Gen. William Sherman at Bennett Place, North Carolina.

Many in the Confederacy felt that negotiation marked the end of the Civil War. Lee had surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia to Gen. Ulysses S. Grant two weeks earlier at Appomattox Court House, but Johnston stayed in the field with almost 90,000 soldiers.

The holiday spread to the other Confederate states. Some changed their celebration dates to something more locally significant.

In Alabama and Florida, it’s on the fourth Monday in April. Alabama treats it as an official holiday.

Texas celebrates it as a state holiday on Jan. 19.

North and South Carolina celebrate on May 10, but state offices close only in South Carolina.

June 3 is when Kentucky and Tennessee honor the dead from the Civil War, and Tennessee calls it Confederate Decoration Day.

Does Mississippi celebrate Juneteenth as a state holiday?

No. Mississippi does not honor Juneteenth, though it is a federal holiday.

Juneteenth is a federal holiday that honors June 19, 1865, when enslaved people in Texas were set free. The order for the state came about two and a half years after the 1862 Emancipation Proclamation.

Civil War reenactors teach living history in Mississippi

When are Mississippi state holidays in 2025?

Many state holidays in Mississippi sync up with federal holidays, but not all of them, according to the list from the Department of Finance and Administration.

• Wednesday, Jan. 1: New Year’s Day.
• Monday, Jan. 20: Birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert E. Lee.
• Monday, Feb. 17: Washington’s Birthday.
• Monday, April 28: Confederate Memorial Day.
• Monday, May 26: National Memorial Day and Jefferson Davis’ birthday.
• Friday, July 4: Independence Day.
• Monday, Sept. 1: Labor Day.
• Tuesday, Nov. 11: Veterans Day or Armistice Day.
• Thursday, Nov. 27: Thanksgiving Day.
• Thursday, Dec. 25: Christmas Day.

2025 US federal holiday schedule

Here are the federal holidays in 2025, according to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management:

• Wednesday, Jan. 1: New Year’s Day.
• Monday, Jan. 20: Birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. and Inauguration Day.
• Monday, Feb. 17: Washington’s Birthday.
• Monday, May 26: Memorial Day.
• Thursday, June 19: Juneteenth National Independence Day.
• Friday, July 4: Independence Day.
• Monday, Sept. 1: Labor Day.
• Monday, Oct. 13: Columbus Day.
• Tuesday, Nov. 11: Veterans Day.
• Thursday, Nov. 27: Thanksgiving Day.
• Thursday, Dec. 25: Christmas Day.

Bonnie Bolden is the Deep South Connect reporter for Mississippi with Gannett/USA Today. Email her at bbolden@gannett.com.

The 2025 high school softball season in Mississippi has come to its end, and it was an exciting season from start to finish. The championship series’ delivered as promised, and it was a fitting end to the season that was. These 12 players that have been nominated for the final player of the week poll went above and beyond as they did everything they could to try and help their team close out the season with an exclamation point. As always, we ask you, the fans, to vote on who you think is the final High School on SI Mississippi softball player of the week for 2025.

Editor’s note: Our corresponding poll is intended to be fun, and we do not set limits on how many times a fan can vote during the competition. This poll is specifically for fans to vote on the players that have been nominated and in no way discredits any other player that may not be mentioned in our poll

Congratulations to last week’s winner: Abby Danis East Central

Voting will close on May 25 at 11:59 p.m.

Here are the nominations:

In the 10-3 and 10-6 losses to East Central, Eason still managed to have some productive at-bats. She finished with four hits, two home runs, three RBIs and three runs scored.

In the two wins in game one and game three in the Class 3A state championship, Dearman pitched a complete game in both as she helped her team secure the championship. In game one, she allowed three hits, zero runs and 10 strikeouts in eight innings. In game three, she allowed two hits, zero runs with 10 strikeouts.

In the wins over Lafayette, Danis finished with four hits, one home run, four RBIs and two runs scored as she helped the Hornets secure the Class 5A state championship.

In three games in the Class 1A state championship versus Myrtle, Holifield finished with five hits, two home runs, one double, five RBIs and four runs scored as the Red Devils claimed the championship.

In the 10-0 and 12-1 wins over Pisgah in the Class 2A state championship, Johnson went 3-for-5 with two home runs, six RBIs and four runs scored.

In the 6-2 and 9-6 wins over Purvis in the Class 4A state championship, Owens finished with four hits, one double and one RBI. She also pitched 12.1 combined innings in the series. Owens allowed 13 hits, seven runs and struck out five batters.

Pipkins came up big from the plate in the Class 6A state championship that saw the Rebels emerge victorious in three games versus Neshoba Central. She finished the series with three hits, one home run, one double and four runs scored.

Slay is another member of the Rebels squad who had a successful showing from the plate in the 6A state championship series. She finished with five hits, one triple, five RBIs and three runs scored.

In the 8-3 and 9-0 wins over Hernando in the Class 7A state championship series, Smith finished with four hits, two doubles, two RBIs and five runs scored.

In the game two win over Hernando which secured the 7A state championship for the Cougars, Tubbs finished with three hits, two RBIs and one run scored.

In the wins over Myrtle, Townsend finished with three hits, two doubles, two RBIs, one stolen base and two runs scored.

In the 10-0 win over Pisgah, Cooper finished with two hits, one double, two RBIs and one run scored.

STARKVILLE, Miss. — Three weeks ago, Mississippi State’s postseason hopes looked bleak. Then they made some changes.

The Bulldogs, once a national powerhouse, found themselves outside NCAA tournament projections and without a coach after Chris Lemonis was dismissed on April 28.

Fast forward to mid-May, and a remarkable turnaround under interim coach Justin Parker has Mississippi State (34-20) not only back in the conversation but firmly projected to make the 2025 NCAA tournament.

Since the coaching change, Mississippi State has won nine of its last 10 games, including a crucial sweep of Missouri.

This late push has elevated the Bulldogs’ RPI to No. 30, their highest mark since the season’s start. The team’s resurgence has been attributed to Parker’s steady leadership and the players’ renewed focus.

“The Bulldogs were not projected to make the NCAA tournament when coach Chris Lemonis was fired on April 28. MSU (34-20) won nine of its last 10 games of the regular season under interim coach Justin Parker and is now firmly projected to be in the NCAA tournament,” wrote Sam Sklar of the Jackson Clarion Ledger.

Current projections from D1Baseball slot Mississippi State as a No. 3 seed in the Tallahassee Regional, with Florida State hosting, West Virginia as the No. 2 seed, and Bethune-Cookman rounding out the group.

Meanwhile, Aria Gerson of the Tennessean sees MSU as a No. 2 seed in the Atlanta Regional hosted by Georgia Tech, alongside Austin Peay and Eastern Illinois. These projections highlight the Bulldogs’ strong finish and improved tournament résumé.

Mississippi State’s NCAA tournament case is built on a robust strength of schedule (SOS) and a solid record outside the top tier.

The Bulldogs are 8-17 in Quad 1 games, 3-2 in Quad 2, and an impressive 23-1 in Quads 3 and 4.

Their opening SEC tournament matchup against Texas A&M is classified as a Quad 2 opportunity, giving MSU a chance to further solidify its postseason credentials.

Baseball America’s latest bubble watch pointed out the importance of the upcoming series.

“Mississippi State looks poised to become the 13th [SEC team in the field] with one more series win,” they wrote. “Win the series and they’re in. Lose it, and the conversation becomes much murkier again.”

Mississippi State has been in this spot before. They’ve been in the College World Series in 2019 and the national championship season in 2021.

That didn’t buy Lemonis lifetime job security, which is why a couple of months ago nobody was singing these optimistic songs.

The Bulldogs’ late-season surge has already shifted the national narrative, making the Bulldogs one of the most intriguing teams to watch in the SEC Tournament and where they’ll land for another chance to get to Omaha.