Mississippi
MS celebrates Jefferson Davis’ birthday, Memorial Day as state holiday. What to know
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STAFF VIDEO, USA TODAY
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.
BILOXI, Miss. (WLOX) — Gas prices along the Mississippi Gulf Coast have jumped to nearly $3 a gallon, up from $2.41 just two days ago, according to AAA.
AAA said the increase is driven by two factors: the U.S.-Iran conflict, which has shut down a key Middle East oil route and prompted attacks on refineries, and a seasonal fuel blend switch that adds up to 15 cents a gallon on its own.
Uber Eats driver James Adams said he noticed the increase immediately.
“It actually jumped like 50 to 60 cents in one day,” Adams said.
Adams said the higher cost to fill his tank cuts directly into his delivery earnings.
“We’re working basically for pennies on the dollar already — and once you factor that in with traffic and the mileage you have to go — the gas is outrageous,” Adams said.
DoorDash driver Daniel Yelle said the spike will strain his weekly budget.
“I fill up about twice a week going to and from work and DoorDash — and that’s going to hurt my budget,” Yelle said.
FedEx driver Cecil Banks said there is little that workers can do about the rise in prices.
“As long as there is wars — the price of gas is going to go up for everybody — so it’s just an unfortunate situation,” Banks said.
Banks noted that even though Mississippi’s prices remain below the national average, not driving is not an option for working families.
“What can you do? A lot of people have families — they have to go get their kids — they have to go back and forth to work,” Banks said.
Yelle echoed that sentiment.
“They don’t pay us enough for the higher gas prices,” Yelle said.
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Mississippi
It’s 2,350 miles long, spans 31 US states and is home to a 100kg animal with a tongue that looks like a worm | Discover Wildlife
The Mississippi River flows for around 2,350 miles through the heart of the US. It drains an area of 1.2 million square miles – that’s roughly 40% of the country – and at certain points is 11 miles wide. It is North America’s second longest river, behind the Missouri River.
Rising from Lake Itasca in Minnesota, the Mississippi winds southwards through a range of environments, draining water from 31 US states before reaching its delta at the Gulf of Mexico in Louisiana.
The sheer size of the river and the diversity of habitats it passes through make it a refuge for a huge range of animal species, including more than 260 fish, 326 birds, 50 mammals and at least 145 amphibians and reptiles, according to the National Park Service.
There are many weird and wonderful animals living within the Mississippi’s vast waters, but surely one of the strangest is the alligator snapping turtle.
This prehistoric-looking reptile is massive. It can weigh up to 100kg and males can grow well over half a metre long, making it the largest freshwater turtle in North America.
And as if its size wasn’t enough, the alligator snapper has a host of other characteristics that make it one of the Mississippi’s most striking creatures, including a dark, spiky shell (known as carapace), a brick-like head and a sharp, hooked beak. With such a formidable appearance, it’s easy to see how the turtle got its ‘alligator’ name.
But perhaps the turtle’s most curious feature is a worm-like appendage found on its tongue, which it uses as a lure to catch prey, such as fish, amphibians and invertebrates. Alligator snappers are also quite happy scavenging for food.
More amazing wildlife stories from around the world
NIL money comes with a price. More specifically, a tax bill.
The Mississippi legislature is trying to reduce that burden for college athletes who play there.
Via Bea Anhuci of the Mississippi Clarion Ledger, the Mississippi House of Representatives has passed a bill that would exempt NIL earnings from state income tax.
It’s a recruiting tool for Ole Miss and Mississippi State, one that would put the Mississippi schools on equal footing with other states that host SEC universities. Florida, Tennessee, and Texas have no state income tax, and Arkansas carved out NIL earnings from the state’s income tax burden in 2025.
Mississippi currently charges a four-percent tax on anyone making more than $10,000 per year.
NIL earnings remain subject to federal income tax.
The bill will have to also pass the Mississippi Senate, and the governor would then be required to sign it into law.
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