~~May 26,2015~~
THE DAY AFTER
Posted on San Francisco BayView
By James DeWolf Perry
As we pause to remember the nation’s war dead, it’s worth remembering that Memorial Day was first celebrated by Black Union troops and free Black Americans in Charleston, South Carolina at the end of the Civil War.
As historian David Blight recounts in his masterful book, “Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory” (2001), Charleston was occupied by Union troops in the spring of 1865, most white residents having fled the city. In this atmosphere, the free Black population of Charleston, primarily consisting of former slaves, engaged in a series of celebrations to proclaim the meaning of the war as they saw it.
The height of these celebrations took place on May 1, 1865, on the grounds of the former Washington Race Course and Jockey Club, an elite facility which had been used by the Confederates as a gruesome prison and mass grave for unlucky Union soldiers. Following the evacuation of Charleston, Black laborers had dug up the remains of Union soldiers, given them a proper burial, and built the trappings of a respectful cemetery around the site to memorialize their sacrifice.
“As it appears in …. full read/full credit”
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We ALL are ONE!!
It Is What It Is 
Wow! I am overwhelmed.
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Good to know … I love history!! Guess they didn’t teach that to us in school, right?
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Not even, it wasn’t until I began to teach that I learned that the expression “Real McCoy” described an invention by a black engineer who created a way to keep a steam locomotive wheel’s oiled. After he invented his process there were others who developed a similar system but none worked as well as his did.
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So interesting that this important fact is forgotten.
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