#MemorialDay2021 Let's talk about the origins of Decoration Day. In Race and Reunion, historian David Blight highlights the first Memorial Day. Founded by Black Americans, Decoration Day was held May 1, 1865 at a racetrack/ war prison where freedmen reburied Union soldiers. 
They then held a ceremony to honor the 257 fallen soldiers (on this site in South Carolina) called "Martyrs of the Race Course." In the days prior, Black men built an enclosure around the burial ground & created a cemetery of neat rows to honor the US.
On the Morning of May 1, thousands of Black school children from the freedman schools marched along with roses for the fallen while singing "John Brown's Body."
They were followed by hundreds of Black women from the Patriotic Association and Black Men of the Mutual Aid society to lay wreaths, crosses, and flowers on the graves. Black ministers of Charleston conducted the ceremony and lead the crowd in spirituals.
Today, as we honor those lost in war, let us also give credit to the Black Americans who started the tradition of remembrance to those who fought and died for freedom. It is freed people who first recognized the fallen. #CivilWarHistory #AmericanHistory
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