Texas observes ‘Confederate Heroes Day’ amid growing debate

Texas is again observing “Confederate Heroes Day” as a state holiday after recent failed attempts to change the name and avoid calendar conflicts with Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Friday marks the 45th year that Texas has observed the holiday. It comes following a year of heightened protests and criticisms across the country over Confederate symbols.

The University of Texas last fall abruptly removed campus Confederate statues in the middle of the night following a deadly clash during a white nationalist rally Virginia.

Texas’ Republican House speaker has also called for removing a plaque in the state Capitol that rejects slavery as an underlying cause of the Civil War.

At least eight states have holidays that remember Confederate soldiers. Georgia in 2015 renamed its Confederate holidays to simply “state holiday.”