Show Notes
Next Monday is Memorial Day at one time was called Decoration Day
United States, we honor and mourn members of the military who have passed while serving in the United States Armed Forces. This is not to be confused with Veterans Day.
Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, was first observed on May 30, 1868 at Arlington National Cemetery when flowers were placed on the graves of fallen Union and Confederate soldiers and Colored Soldiers.
May 30 from 1868 until 1970 Official Federal Holiday in 1971
May 5, 1868, General John A. Logan, leader of an organization for Northern Civil War veterans, called for a nationwide day of remembrance later that month.
“Martyrs of the Race Course.” Washington Race Course and Jockey Club, Charleston, SC
April 1865, freedmen built a fence around the burial ground, with an arch reading “Martyrs of the Race Course.” On May 1, 1865, thousands of African-Americans – freed slaves, children, Union soldiers – made a procession to the cemetery. They laid flowers on the graves, listened to speakers of both races, and picnicked on the grass. This celebration was America’s first Memorial Day.
1966 that then President Lyndon Baines Johnson would sign an official Presidential Proclamation which would recognize Waterloo, New York May 5, 1866 as having the first and most continuous of the nation's Memorial Day celebrations.
President Bill Clinton signed into law “The National Moment of Remembrance Act” in December of 2000.
The law encourages all Americans to pause wherever they are at 3 p.m. local time
Flags at Half Staff until noon
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/5/25/1947101/-The-Memorial-Day-history-forgot-The-Martyrs-of-the-Race-Course
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2020/05/24/18833247.php
https://www.rd.com/article/memorial-day-history/
https://www.yourdictionary.com/memorial-day
https://www.history.com/topics/holidays/memorial-day-history
https://simplyamerica.net/the-first-memorial-day-martyrs-of-the-race-course/
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#martyrsoftheracecourse
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