Although several groups have laid claim to the invention of Memorial Day over the years, history proves that the holiday, held in remembrance of America’s fallen soldiers, was in fact invented by Blacks.
According to Time magazine’s “A Brief History of Memorial Day,”
The exact origins of Memorial Day are disputed, with at least five towns claiming to have given birth to the holiday sometime near the end of the Civil War. Yale University historian David Blight places the first Memorial Day in April 1865, when a group of former slaves gathered at a Charleston, S.C., horse track turned Confederate prison where more than 250 Union soldiers had died. Digging up the soldiers’ mass grave, they interred the bodies in individual graves, built a 100-yd. fence around them and erected an archway over the entrance bearing the words “Martyrs of the Race Course.” On May 1, 1865, some 10,000 Black Charleston residents, white missionaries, teachers, schoolchildren and Union troops marched around the Planters’ Race Course, singing and carrying armfuls of roses. Gathering in the graveyard, the crowd watched five black preachers recite scripture and a children’s choir sing spirituals and “The Star-Spangled Banner.” While the story is largely forgotten today, some historians consider the gathering the first Memorial Day
Based on these facts, as well as the celebration’s date, the 1865 account: where freed slaves gathered in Charleston, South Carolina to commemorate the death of Union soldiers at the end of the American Civil War, is the only claim that holds try and true. However, like many events in history, the observance has evolved over time. According to the U.S Department of Veteran Affairs:
Three years after the Civil War ended, on May 5, 1868, the head of an organization of Union veterans — the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) — established Decoration Day as a time for the nation to decorate the graves of the war dead with flowers. Maj. Gen. John A. Logan declared that Decoration Day should be observed on May 30. It is believed that date was chosen because flowers would be in bloom all over the country.
The first large observance was held that year at Arlington National Cemetery, across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C.
The ceremonies centered around the mourning-draped veranda of the Arlington mansion, once the home of Gen. Robert E. Lee. Various Washington officials, including Gen. and Mrs. Ulysses S. Grant, presided over the ceremonies. After speeches, children from the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Orphan Home and members of the GAR made their way through the cemetery, strewing flowers on both Union and Confederate graves, reciting prayers and singing hymns.
So, while you’re manning the grill, sipping poolside, or hitting a variety of epic Memorial Day sales, don’t let the true message of the holiday pass you by — not only are we to remember the freed slaves whom laid the foundation for honoring the 257 dead Union Soldiers, but also the members of their families and their community who fought for our freedom.
