Bonus: The FORGOTTEN History of Memorial Day #blackhistory

Freed African Americans in Charleston, South Carolina, conducted the earliest recorded Memorial Day observance in the country. This celebration, occurring in 1865 and at the time it was dubbed "Decoration Day"

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https://time.com/5836444/black-memorial-day/
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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Have you ever wandered about the originsof Memorial Day? Well to day,
I want to tell the story aboutformally enslaved people in Charleston and the very
first celebration of Memorial Day. Youcan reach out to me when my country
dot com in the contact page.Also would like to support the channel,
you can do someone buy me coffee. I'm a Patreon page in the descripture
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(00:22):
But without further ado, let's getstarted. Memorial Days celebrates and commemorates the
brave soldiers that lost their lives duringall American conflicts, but its roots are
based in America's deadliest conflict, theCivil War, born out of necessity due
to the colossal amount of lives lostthrough in a conflict, at least six
hundred to eight hundred thousand Union andConfederate soldiers perished to remember their lives.

(00:45):
The first national Memorial Day was observedMay thirty of eighteen sixty eight. The
origins of Memorial Day, though,are hotly contested, with many cities in
the United States each claiming to bethe birthplace of the first celebration. Previously
the earliest annual commemoration was thought tobe organized by women of the Civil War
Hospital in Columbus, Mississippi. Theceremony was held in honor of falling soldiers

(01:10):
by laying flowers at their graves inApril of eighteen sixty six. But her
stories have long sought the shared lightun freed African Americans in Charleston, South
Carolina, who conducted an even earlierMemorial Day observance. This celebration would occur
in eighteen sixty five and was theDecoration Day. David Black, professor of
American History at Yale University, wasdoing research on the Civil War in nineteen

(01:34):
ninety six when he was given theopportunity to examine two boxes of unsorted material
from Union veterans from Harvest Holton Library. He discovered a handwritten story detailing in
eighteen sixty five march on a racetrack, accompanied by a date referencing an article
in the New York Tribune and aviol label first Decorations a day. The

(01:55):
racetrack in question was Washington Racecourse andJockey Club in Charleston, South Carolina.
In the late stages of the CivilWar, the Confederate Army repurposed the Washington
Racetrack and Jocket Club, a luxuriouscountry club and Hurst racing track in Charleston,
South Carolina, to hold Union prisonersof war. The makeshift prison was
located in an open air field ofthe racetrack. Sadly, two hundred and

(02:17):
fifty Union captors with perish from diseaseand exposure while being held at the site,
and their bodies were hastily buried inan unmarked mass grave. Win Confederate
soldiers evacuated Charleston, newly emancipated Blackpeople remained in the Battle Damna City,
and one of the first things theydid was honor fallen Union soldiers. Approximate

(02:37):
ten days leading up to the event, they exhumed a mass grave and reinterred
the bodies in a new cemetery alonga whitewashed finish that was inscribed with the
words the Martyrs of the Racecourse inblack letters. May first, eighteen sixty
five, approximately ten thousand people attendeda large scale memorial gathering to honor the
fallen Union soldiers. During this event, three thousand children from the local black

(03:00):
schools marched around the racetrack holding rosesand singing the Union hymn of John Brown's
Body. Reverends would lead the attendeesin prayer, spirituals, and other religious
activities during the event. Union officers, missionaries, and black pastors also frequently
delivered species to commemorate the fallen soldiers. The people at the memorial gathering,

(03:22):
saying numerous patriotic songs, including arenot limited to America. We were rallied
the flag and the Star Spangled bannerto close out the day. Later in
that afternoon, three white and blackregiment from the Union Armies marched around the
graves in a choreographed drill, andthis tribute was documented in both the Charleston
Daily Courier and the New York Tribune. This Memorial Day observers organized by freed

(03:46):
enslaved people, was at least ayear before any other US city in three
years before the National Observers, makingthe gathering on that Charleston racetrack the earliest
Memorial Day commemoration on record in thewake of the American Civil War. By
eighteen sixty eight, General John A. Logan of the Union Army directed the
commemoration of Memorial Day on September thirtyof urging Americans to honor to decease combatants

(04:12):
by decorating their graves with flowers.In By eighteen eighty nine, Memorial Day
was a national holiday. White Charlestoniansquickly forgot about the eighteen sixty five gathering
at the racetrack by formally enslaved people. Evidence of this event wouldn't appear again
into nineteen sixteen correspondence between the UnitedDaughters of the Confederacy Chapter in New Orleans
and their counterpart in Charleston, inwhich it was asked by a big parade

(04:35):
for free slaves on a horse trackat the very end of the war.
The Charleston office will respond that Iregret that I am unable to gather any
official information to answer this. Subsequently, in the late eighteen eighties, the
horse track and country club was torndown and the remains of the Union soldiers
were relocated to a more prestigious gravesite in Beauford National Cemetery. In doing

(04:58):
so, the story of the firstMemorial Day was almost entirely forgotten, but
not by the African Americans in Charleston, South Carolina. In a speech at
the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, David Blake discussed that he was doing
a story about Memorial Day's origin.After his talking, an older black woman
would approach him. She would state, you mean the story is true.

(05:19):
I grew up in Charleston. Mygranddaddy used to tell stories of a parade
at an old racetrack, but wenever knew whether to believe him or not.
You mean that's true. Thank you. I'm your host, country Boy,
and this has been one of myhistory. And if you have questions
or you just want to leave yourcomments, like I said, you can
do so when mike history dot comin the contact page. Thank you for
listening and peace