Like the proverbial frog basking unaware in a gradually boiling pot of water, American holiday observance has been modified piecemeal over the last half century to create an increasingly progressive federal calendar. This trend should not be surprising given recent history’s leftward political drift.

Calendars, specifically observed holidays, provide insights into societies. For example, the American separation of church and state is reflected in Christmas being the only religious celebration among the six holidays on which schools, offices, factories, banks, financial markets, and all levels of government tend to be closed, the other five being New Year’s Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day (the Fourth of July), Labor Day, and Thanksgiving. Of course, some people celebrate these holidays, especially Thanksgiving, by attending religious services. And New Years’ Day is of Christian origin, counting the years since the conventional date of Jesus’ birth. Also, the stock market still closes on Good Friday.  

In any event, the last few decades have witnessed striking changes -- all in the progressive direction. The process began in 1971 when celebration of Washington’s Birthday moved to the third Monday in February. Although the holiday’s formal name remained the same, it is commonly called Presidents’ Day. Singular honor for George Washington has been replaced by aggregate recognition of all U.S. presidents. No longer was any American honored with his own federal holiday.

Around the same time, many states dropped their February celebration of Abraham Lincoln’s birthday. Presumably the disappointment of workers and schoolchildren at the loss of time off for Lincoln’s birthday was somewhat compensated by Presidents’ Day three-day weekends. And employers were certainly pleased: one fewer paid day off in some states as well as heating and other savings from closing workplaces for three consecutive days rather than opening and closing them for single weekdays. With this more efficient closure as well as low employee attendance and the appeal of long weekends, Friday after Thanksgiving has become an increasingly common paid holiday.

The most controversial new holiday was Martin Luther King Day. First proposed in 1979, it became a federal holiday in 1983 but not a holiday in every state until 2000. Objections were commonly interpreted as racism, but also reflected employers’ natural aversion to additional paid time off and consideration even among those with great respect for Dr. King as to whether he should be the only American so honored. A specific objection was that he was not a president or government official, countered by noting Benjamin Franklin’s visage on the $100 bill. At any rate, protests including moving Super Bowl XXVII, played in January 1993, from Tempe, Arizona to Pasadena, California -- from a state reluctant to approve the holiday to one promoting it -- solidified broad acceptance.

In this century local governments have paired or replaced Columbus Day with Indigenous People’s Day, in so doing portraying Columbus as initiating colonization of the New World and brutally treating the indigenous population he encountered rather than honoring him as an intrepid explorer. The latter characterization, in the past not at all controversial, explains longstanding Italian-American honoring of Columbus Day, originally opposed with anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic sentiment. In any case, the last calendar celebration of a male of European ancestry is apparently on the road to removal.  

The most recent calendar change is the addition of Juneteenth, commemorating 1865 enforcement of the Emancipation Proclamation in Texas, slavery having ended mostly but not entirely elsewhere (the laggards were Delaware and Kentucky, border states not part of the Confederacy and therefore not subject to the Proclamation). This holiday became widely enshrined with little controversy, perhaps to avoid accusations of racism and controversy like that for Martin Luther King Day. Some view these two holidays as celebrations mainly for African Americans.

If these trends continue, Americans can expect further erosion of Columbus Day in favor of Indigenous People’s Day; perhaps an eventual conflation of Veterans’ Day and Memorial Day, to deemphasize the military; and, finally, much less likely although promoted in occasional articles, a replacement of July 4 by Juneteenth, or at least more equal stature of those two days.

Future federal holidays may be enacted. In recent years many individuals have been honored on U.S. coins, primarily as part of commemorative series or official designs. Almost all the honorees have been women and/or people of color. Fewer dignitaries have been honored on U.S. currency but Harriet Tubman’s likeness is scheduled to replace that of Andrew Jackson on the front of the $20 bill while Jackson’s image will be moved to the reverse side. Also, the back of the $10 bill will highlight Susan B. Anthony, Sojourner Truth, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton; and the back of the $5 bill will feature notables associated with the Lincoln Memorial including Marian Anderson, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Dr. King.

Readers may conjecture who will join Jesus of Nazareth and Dr. King as the only individuals honored with their own federal holidays.

This article is based on the author's book Identity and Prejudice.

Image: USAG Humphreys