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.

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