Understanding the Origins of Memorial Day

“They were commemorating the dead because those men who had died in that open-air prison had died for them,” Blight says. “At least, that was their take on it.”

On May 1, 1865, a multiracial group of thousands staged a parade around the racetrack.

“Here were actually several thousand former slaves and soldiers, Black and white, on arguably the most symbolic site of the Low Country planter class — their horse track,” Blight says.

The formerly enslaved Black Americans were not only commemorating the Union dead, says Blight, but also celebrating their own freedom.

Eventually, the large gathering transformed into something akin to the Memorial Day happenings of today, with picnics, speeches and performances by drilling soldiers.

Blight says he found a file labeled “first Decoration Day” while doing research at Harvard in the late 1990s. Inside he discovered a piece of cardboard with a penciled description of this event on May 1, 1865. Additional research led to his assurance that this was the first known Memorial Day celebration.

“No one had officially, on this scale anyway, done this kind of thing at the grave sites of soldiers before May of ’65,” Blight says. “There were a number of places ... that claimed to have the first Memorial Day parades and commemorations at grave sites, but they all claimed 1866.”​

Why don’t more people know about May 1, 1865?

After the roughly 267 Union dead were reinterred at Beaufort National Cemetery in the 1880s, memory surrounding this commemorative event began to fade. One reason for that, Blight says, is the myth of the “Lost Cause,” an ideology that attempts to paint the Confederate cause in a more positive light. In doing so, the ideology wrongly implies secession had little or nothing to do with the institution of slavery.

“The Lost Cause and its etiology took over Southern memory, and this story [of the first Memorial Day] kind of just got publicly obliterated,” Blight says.

Moyler also points to the Lost Cause as a reason this story stayed hidden for so long, noting that Black people’s involvement and, at times, centrality to American history has often been erased to create a more favorable version of events.

Blight first publicly shared his findings about the origins of Memorial Day in 2001 in his book Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory. Since then the story has gradually infiltrated popular memory. In 2017, Charleston erected in Hampton Park, the site of the former Washington Race Course, an official state historical marker commemorating the first Memorial Day.

Green says efforts from historians like Blight and others have helped shine a light on this piece of history. But there is still more work that needs to be done.

“While the nation forgot, African American communities and scholars remembered the roots but also kept the tradition alive within the annual commemorative calendar,” she says. “More education is needed to correct the previous intentional silencing of this history from popular memory.”

The slow acceptance of this crucial piece of Memorial Day history reminds Moyler of how people were recently hesitant to accept the origins of the Statue of Liberty. “A lot of inspiration for the Statue of Liberty was due to France basically congratulating the United States on abolishing slavery,” says Moyler. “And it kind of upset some people because they were like, ‘No, it’s about immigration only.’ ”

Adding that the statue’s association with immigration came later, Moyler says that the U.S. has a hard time reconciling with its past, particularly pertaining to slavery. “I think it makes a lot of certain people, I guess, uncomfortable that something so iconic and so American has very much to do with Black people and with slavery,” Moyler says.

How has Memorial Day evolved over the years?

An event’s origin story, as a whole, gives us context. It’s a chance to consider current ways and how to move forward. Understanding the origins of Memorial Day, Moyler says, is crucial because “we need to have all the facts.”

Memorial Day is seen as “quintessentially American” for a lot of people, he adds. But it’s important that we make a conscious effort to recognize the role of slavery in the holiday’s history, even if we’re trying to celebrate the country we have today.

Moyler wants to reassure people that understanding the historical context surrounding Memorial Day doesn’t negate any associations people may have with the holiday.

In other words, you can recognize that Memorial Day started with Black Americans honoring Union soldiers who died while fighting for abolition and still honor your grandfather who died while fighting in World War II. You can understand these origins and also honor your loved one who fell during the Iraq War, or simply celebrate the start of summer with a family get-together and burgers on the grill.

Green says “informal decorations of Civil War dead, speakers, parades and community gatherings became formalized in 1868” when Union Gen. John A. Logan issued General Orders No. 11. It was then that May 30 became a “national day of remembrance.” It wasn’t until 1971 that Congress declared Memorial Day as a national holiday and designated it as the last Monday in May.

“The day remained a popular community celebration where white and Black Americans celebrated with decoration of graves, parades and other traditions over the 19th and 20th [centuries],” she says. “After later military conflicts, the holiday expanded to include individuals who died in other conflicts.”

Blight considers Memorial Day to be “a changing American commemoration of its war experience born out of the most divisive and colossal war experience we’ve ever had.” He recognizes that the holiday’s evolution has led to an even greater variety of celebrations.

“Some people use Memorial Day just to remember their own family, going to graves, like All Saints’ Day in the Catholic tradition,” Blight says. “It has many uses, but in most places, it’s a day of shopping, picnics, bike rides, etc. It’s a day off.”