Monday, May 27, 2013

"For the Purpose of Strewing with Flowers or Otherwise Decorating the Graves of Comrades"

"As America recognizes the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclaimation, we would do well to revisit the origins of Memorial Day among freedpeople in Charleston. While they honored those who fought for their emancipation, it was not simply a moment of great triumph and celebration for freedpeople, but a complicated process that led to the unexpected death of hundreds of thousands of former slaves."

Jim Downs at The Huffington Post discusses Memorial Day and the end of slavery.

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