Memorial Day History

Like so many other pieces of American History, American African contributions have all but been erased from the historical fact sheet surrounding the Memorial Day Celebration by the South, in an effort, to recolor American History. The truth is that not only did American African people fight with the Union Military for the preservation of the Union of States, but black Union soldiers also fought for their own freedom. I decided to do this post to remind people that Memorial Day was started by freed slaves in South Carolina. The Memorial Day Celebration, originally referred to as Decoration Day was made a national holiday in the United States in 1971. The Memorial Day Celebration traditions can be traced back to the days of the Civil War.

Back in 1865, with fighting between the states still in progress the Confederate military took over an old, converted racetrack and used it to hold hundreds of Union prisoners. The Union soldiers were kept in conditions so deplorable more than two-hundred-fifty Union soldiers would die from mistreatment and the conditions. The dead Union soldiers were unceremoniously placed in a mass grave and covered over with dirt. When the Civil War ended, a short time later, with most of the white population already having fled to the South. The rebels receiving word of the Confederate surrender pulled out of South Carolina, leaving thousands of slaves and freed American Africans to the new future that awaited them. 

Once the Confederate forces had left a group of American Africans aware of the mass grave holding Union troops dug up all of the Union soldier's bodies, and moved them to a new location, placing a sign over the Union troop's new burial ground that read: Martyrs of the racecourse. The fallen Union soldiers were given a proper burial and on May 1st, 1865 the first Memorial Day Celebration in this nation was held to honor the dead. More than ten-thousand American African men and women, led by groups of children their arms filled with flowers paraded around the racetrack grounds. At the New Martyrs of the Racecourse Cemetery after squeezing as many of the ten thousand people as they could into the Union soldier's final resting place.  

The ceremony began with a group of American African preachers each taking his turn at the pulpit reading scripture from the bible and praying for the lost Union souls, which was followed by the voices of the children's choir. So, while we honor all of the soldiers who fought for and made the ultimate sacrifice for this nation, let us also remember all of the black workmen who would not rest until Union soldiers were given an honorable burial, and who are the true reasons for the Memorial Day Celebration.

Juneteenth Handbook Info

The Juneteenth Fact Sheet

Download my Juneteenth Fact Sheet online and at the bottom of this post leave us an E-Mail address so that you can follow and be the first to learn of new, downloadable, printable stickers, and invitations, for Juneteenth from us here at the Juneteenth Handbook. What is the Juneteenth Fact Sheet, it's a collection of facts put together by me based on conversations I have had with friends and family over the years about Juneteenth? Not long after finding out about the Juneteenth Celebration myself, I began to realize that a lot of the facts and figures being quoted to me by different friends, family, and organizers were not matching up. For example, Juneteenth represents the end of slavery in the United States. Well, kinda, and not for all the slave population in this nation at that time. 

In my research that followed for my own video presentation about Juneteenth, titled A Time to be Remembered, A Juneteenth Story, even more, clarifying information came to light (for me) so when my video project was finished and the companion book I promised (The Juneteenth Handbook) was complete I decided to do my own Juneteenth Fact Sheet to clarify things like it was actually the 13th Amendment that ended slavery throughout the U.S. and the first official Juneteenth Celebration, was actually held June 19th, 1866, on the first year anniversary of General Gordon Granger's reading of General Order No. 3 the year before in 1865. Not gigantic deals I know, but, to me still important enough to mention.

For those of you who don't know, the word Juneteenth is a mixture of the words June and 19th, which represents the teenths of the month, in long-ago slave speak. The celebration is also known by other names like Jubilee Day, Emancipation Day, June 19th, and American African Independence Day. Because Juneteenth did for the American Africans what the 4th of July, 1776 celebration did not do for American Africans, Juneteenth recognized African Americans as citizens of this nation and was quickly followed by the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the United States Constitution.

The Juneteenth Fact Sheet and the Juneteenth Handbook E-Book are both downloadable history worth knowing. June 19th is one of the best days I know of the reflect on the meaning of the Juneteenth Celebration. Keeping in mind all of the freedoms the black Americans gained, and all the relief, and feelings of a job well done by all of the black and white abolitionists. Keep in mind that there are just as many descendants of the abolitionist around today as there are descendants of the former slaves.  

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by GKDStore

Juneteenth is a good time to remember also that the slaves both before, and after their freedom had an active part in building this nation, and because freedom isn't free some of the slaves also had a very active part in fighting with the military of this nation for their freedom all of which should make Juneteenth and American Holiday worth celebrating. Leave a comment and share with me how you first learned about the Juneteenth Celebration.