THE FIRST MEMORIAL DAY

On May 1st, 1865, a group of former slaves (freedmen) held a gathering in Charleston, South Carolina to honor 257 dead Black Union soldiers who had been buried in a mass grave in a Confederate prison camp. They worked for two weeks digging up the bodies in order to give these soldiers a proper burial as gratitude for fighting for their freedoms.

Together with teachers and missionaries, Black residents of Charleston organized a May Day ceremony that same year which was covered by The New York Tribune and a variety of other news publications. Freedmen cleaned up and landscaped the burial ground. Nearly ten thousand people, mostly freedmen, gathered on May 1st to commemorate the war dead. And so, the very first American Memorial Day was established!

Years later, the celebration would be called the “First Decoration Day” in northern regions. Today that original site is used as Hampton Park.