Arkansas ends Robert E. Lee-Martin Luther King Jr. holiday

(AP) — Arkansas' governor signed legislation Tuesday ending the state's practice of commemorating Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee on the same holiday as slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., leaving only two states remaining that honor the two men on the same day.

Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson championed the bill, which also expands what is taught in schools about civil rights and the Civil War, saying it would unify the state and improve its image.

The Civil War general will instead will be honored with a memorial day, not a state holiday, on the second Saturday in October that will be marked with a gubernatorial proclamation.

The law also requires the Arkansas Department of Education to expand what's taught in classrooms about the Civil War and civil rights, including more of an emphasis on civil rights leaders such as King, as well as more about civilian and military leadership during the Civil War.

An effort to remove Lee from the holiday was spurred in 2015 by social media posts showing the notices placed on state buildings about the dual holiday, but the legislation repeatedly failed before a House committee.

The provision on civil rights and Civil War history also helped ensure the measure would go before the House and Senate education committees, rather than the House State Agencies and Governmental Affairs Committee where it failed two years ago.

A proposal is pending in the Alabama Legislature to end the state's joint holiday in January and move the commemoration of Lee's birthday to Confederate Memorial Day, which Alabama celebrates as a state holiday in April.