Q.I read your column on May A. celebrations earlier this month. It included information about Memorial Day. How is Memorial Day different from Veteran’s Day? What is the history of Memorial Day?
Memorial Day, originally called “Decoration Day” was established to honor those who gave their lives while fighting the Civil War. The holiday evolved to commemorate all American military personnel who have died in any and all wars. Veteran’s Day is a day to honor those still living who have served or are serving in the military.
There are many cities in the United States that claim to have had or started the “first” Memorial (Decoration) Day. One of those cities is Charleston, SC. The book “A Day for Rememberin’” is a very informative and engaging children’s book that tells a fictionalized story of Decoration Day in Charleston on May 1,1865. The book imagines what it was like for a young Black child on that day of remembrance. The book is based on real-life events and has an excellent supplement that explains the historical facts of that event. The inspiration for the book was a photo that author Leah Henderson “stumbled across.” The photo is “an image of 200 or so Black children getting ready for what looked like a parade. After further research, Henderson found the story about a procession of about ten thousand (mostly newlyfreed enslaved people) led by almost 3,000 Black children. They were processing to a former racecourse that had served as a prison for Union soldiers during the war. The racecourse became, literally, a graveyard for the soldiers who died there. The procession was an organized commemoration of those who, as Abraham Lincoln termed it in the Gettysburg Address, had given their “last full measure of devotion” to their country.
More information about the origins of Memorial Day can be found in the book “The Folklore of American Holidays” by Hennig Cohen. The article about Memorial Day in this book chronicles the stories of more than 10 cities that claim to be the first place to celebrate Decoration Day. The US Department of Veteran’s Affairs website (va.gov/ opa/publications/celebrate/ memday.pdf states the following: Three years after the Civil War ended, on May 5, 1868, the head of an organization of Union veterans — the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) — established Decoration Day as a time for the nation to decorate the graves of the war dead with flowers. Maj. Gen. John A. Logan declared it should be May 30. It is believed the date was chosen because flowers would be in bloom all over the country. The first large observance was held that year at Arlington National Cemetery, across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. The ceremonies centered around the mourning- draped veranda of the Arlington mansion, once the home of Gen. Robert E. Lee However, many cities had already been having the celebration (example Charleston). In 1968, Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, which established Memorial Day as the last Monday in May in order to create a three-day weekend for federal employees. The change went into effect in 1971. The same law also declared Memorial Day a federal holiday.
The American Legion Auxiliary (ALA) still coordinates the creation and sale of red crepe paper poppies to celebrate Memorial Day. All proceeds go to benefit veterans and their families. The ALA encourages everyone to wear a poppy the Friday before Memorial Day to “honor the fallen and support the living who have worn our nation's uniform.” More information can be found at the ALA’s website, wlegion- aux.org/.
Suzanne Sanders is the columnist for the library. She is the Community Services Manager for the San Marcos Public Library and came from the Austin Public Library in 2015 after having served there as a librarian for over 20 years. She gratefully accepts your questions for this column.
