Woke
Out of context: Reply #70
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- imbecile3
Memorial Day, as a national holiday in the United States, was officially recognized in 1868, three years after the Civil War ended. It was initiated by the Grand Army of the Republic (an organization of Union veterans) to honor Union soldiers who died during the Civil War. It was initially known as Decoration Day, a day to decorate the graves of fallen soldiers with flowers.
However, there is a particular event that predates the official recognition of Memorial Day and it involves a group of freed slaves in Charleston, South Carolina. On May 1, 1865, not long after the end of the Civil War, a group of freed slaves, along with white missionaries and teachers, held a parade of about 10,000 people to honor Union soldiers who had died in a Confederate prison camp in Charleston. During the war, the site had been a racetrack, and the Union prisoners were buried in a mass grave near the track. The freed slaves exhumed the bodies and gave each soldier a proper burial. They then held a parade to honor the soldiers, decorating their graves with flowers.
This event was one of the first-known instances of African Americans paying tribute to fallen Union soldiers, and it has been linked to the later creation of Memorial Day. However, it's important to note that Memorial Day as a national holiday had multiple origins in various towns and communities who honored their Civil War dead in different ways.
The 1865 event in Charleston has gained attention in recent years as a significant, but often overlooked, moment in the history of Memorial Day. Yet, it's just one piece of the larger story of how Memorial Day came to be and how it was celebrated in its early years. It's also a powerful reminder of the ways African Americans have contributed to the rituals and traditions of remembrance in the United States.