African American Contributions to Memorial Day
National Mall and Memorial Parks
“Louisiana furnished 24,000 Black men to help put down the rebellion. You talk about strewing flowers upon the graves of our departed Comrades. Who are the ones that do it down South but the Black people?” – Comrade Boyle of Louisiana, speaking before a national gathering of the Grand Army of the Republic, 1907.[1]
“The Constitution that governs us was sustained by the sword and bayonet. The Black soldier played an important part, and as an evidence of their valor, look at yonder graves.” – M.C Maxfield, speaking at a DC Memorial Day ceremony in 1911.[2]
The Origins of Memorial Day
At the April 1901 dedication of the General John A. Logan Memorial, speakers like President William McKinley and New York Senator Chauncey Depew spoke of the nation’s debt to General Logan for his General Order No.11, which in 1868 formalized the annual floral decoration of the graves on Memorial Day, also referred to as Decoration Day.[3] While there is a historical debate over where and when the very first observation of Memorial Day took place, one of the earliest recorded observations of the holiday indisputably took place in Charleston, South Carolina, in the closing days of the Civil War.On May 1, 1865, the freed people of Charleston gathered at the old racetrack to decorate the graves of 257 Union prisoners of war who had been hastily buried by the retreating Confederate army. The largely African American crowd watched the men of the 35th and 104th United States Colored Troops (USCT), along with the men of the famed 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment, perform drills before listening to speeches addressing the meaning of the long and bloody war. When the ceremonies were finished, the crowd dispersed to lay flowers on the graves of the men who had died fighting for Union and for liberty.[4]
African American Memorial Day Observations From Reconstruction to World War I
In the decades following the Civil War, the role of African Americans in the celebration of Memorial Day remained a large one, especially in the South. Throughout the Reconstruction era, African Americans made up the vast majority of the day’s observers in the South, as the decoration of Confederate graves was still policed by the occupying federal forces.[5] After Reconstruction’s end in 1877, African American orators used Memorial Day speeches to decry efforts to rehabilitate the Confederate cause. In 1878, speaking before a crowd of New York Union veterans on Decoration Day, Frederick Douglass proclaimed that “There was a right side and a wrong side in the late war which no sentiment ought to cause us to forget, and while today we should have malice toward none and charity toward all, it is no part of our duty to confound right with wrong, or loyalty with treason.”[6]Through the 1880s and well into the 1910s, African American veterans claimed a prominent position in the observation of Memorial Day, with local Black Grand Army of the Republic posts regularly leading services in DC’s Columbian Harmony Cemetery.[7] When a Black G.A.R post was placed behind a white cadet brigade at the 1898 Uniontown, Pennsylvania Memorial Day parade, the Black veterans left the procession in protest – and there was such outrage that at the next year’s Memorial Day parade, that Black post marched at the head of the procession.[8]
In 1898, in the spirit of reconciliation between North and South, President McKinley opened the National Cemeteries to the Confederate war dead. In the aftermath of the Spanish American War and the First World War, Memorial Day grew to be a holiday that honored all American war dead, not just those that fell in defense of the Union.[9] Despite the reconciliatory mood of the country at large, many Union veterans, Black and white, believed that Memorial Day should exclusively honor the Union’s dead. The year prior to the dedication of General Logan’s statue, the Maryland Department of the Grand Army of the Republic refused an invitation from President McKinley and Governor John W. Smith to attend the Memorial Day dedication of the Maryland State Monument on the Antietam National Battlefield. The monument was dedicated to all Marylanders present at Antietam, both Confederate and Union, and Department Commander John R. King objected to the “perversion” of a holiday that “was a day set apart sacred to the memory of our own dead.”[10]
dead domain
@DomainDead
I spent the last week digging through old articles and studies on racist policy like segregation, redlining, war on drugs etc.
It’s SHOCKING how many “.gov” addresses and resources now end in “404 not found”
They’ve deleted so much nobody realizes is gone.
https://x.com/i/status/2058916291449381148
ABC News
@ABC
The Department of Justice is acknowledging it has removed from its website news releases about criminal cases related to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot, calling the information about the prosecutions “partisan propaganda.”
https://x.com/ABC/status/2058205062732624080?s=20
Tim
@trouble_man90
Before you ask me for support you have to show me a tweet of you criticizing the Supreme Court for striking down the Voting Rights Act and their continued attack on Black voting rights and protections.
3:17 PM · May 25, 2026
https://x.com/i/status/2059005998824657171
Eric Michael Garcia
@EricMGarcia
Reminder that formerly enslaved Black people started Memorial Day. It was initially called Decoration Day as they decorated the graves of Union troops.
“As He died to make men holy let us die to make men free”
10:07 AM · May 25, 2026
https://x.com/EricMGarcia/status/2058927894831702307?s=20
TRENDING ➞ 911
@911NewsBreaks
BREAKING: 🚨 Governor of New Jersey Mikie Sherrill BLOCKED by DHS from entering Newark ICE facility.
https://x.com/i/status/2058993965282558195
Not a Good Jewish Girl✡️
@estherzelda0514
That’s the kicker for me. The far left didn’t give a shit when the court gutted the VRA or overturned Roe. They laughed when Harris and Clinton lost and rubbed it in our faces.
And I’m supposed to care that their darling “America deserved 9/11” dog abusing dickbag, the one that cheered when Trump targeted Adam Schiff, has to turn in some receipts from his luxury jaunt to Cuba funded by the Chinese government?
Nah, fuck you guys.
https://x.com/i/status/2058950287352836219
Scott Dworkin
@funder
Sen. Tammy Duckworth lost both of her legs piloting a Black Hawk helicopter in Iraq. When she talks about military valor, you listen. She just leveled a devastating charge against the administration, accusing the president of hiding “incompetence” behind our troops. Read her blistering quote:👇
https://dworkinsubstack.com/p/vietnam-vets-crashed-trumps-coast
https://x.com/i/status/2058922732809560361
Chris Cadence
@ChrisCadence_
Leftists will tell you Hasan is one of the most important people in politics but also say you are stupid to think a streamer influenced an election. Does he have power or is he an entertainer it changes to fit your narrative
9:57 AM · May 25, 2026
https://x.com/i/status/2058925542674514294
FLORIDA
@UF
.
@EDSecMcMahon
is correct. DEI is discriminatory by design, antithetical to the purpose of a university, and incompatible with the pursuit of truth.
The University of Florida has already acted on that conviction. In December 2025, our Board of Trustees adopted institutional neutrality and embedded an anti-DEI mandate within the presidential contract itself, ensuring that no university funds, public or private, will underwrite DEI at this institution.
Dr. Stuart Bell stands with Secretary McMahon, the Board, and the people of Florida on this. He is ready to lead UF forward as a university defined by merit, rigor, and the pursuit of truth.
https://x.com/UF/status/2057928285636710484
Dr. Derwin L. Gray
@DerwinLGray
I suspect UF DEI policy would change quickly if all the Black football and basketball players transferred to another school.
It wasn’t until 1958 Black people could even attend the University of Florida & it wasn’t until 1970, UF had its 1st black football player.
https://x.com/i/status/2058945038143361241
Thomas Kennedy
@tomaskenn
Several data centers being built in South Florida were approved using technicalities to limit public input. In one instance, notice was only mailed to properties within 500 feet of the development.
https://x.com/i/status/2058956389926490182
AFRICAN & BLACK HISTORY
@AfricanArchives
— The origin of Memorial Day—
The origin of Memorial Day trace back to 1865 when freed slaves started a tradition to honor fallen Union soldiers and to celebrate emancipation and commemorate those who died for that cause.
A THREAD
https://x.com/i/status/2058986753332031874
EBONY
@EBONY
Memorial Day carries layers for our community.
Today, we honor the lives lost and the families who carry that weight. We recognize the legacy of Black courage that has always moved this nation forward… even when the nation didn’t always move for us.
Their sacrifice is part of our story. Their courage is part of our legacy! 🖤
https://x.com/i/status/2058956599117349156
Kamala Harris
@KamalaHarris
Today, we pause to remember the Americans who laid down their lives in service to our nation.
May we always honor their legacy and support the loved ones they left behind.
https://x.com/i/status/2058898015352504582
Justice Department may intervene in NAACP lawsuit over Elon Musk’s xAI’s turbines in Mississippi
Katherine Lin
by Katherine Lin
May 25, 2026
The Department of Justice is considering intervening in the NAACP’s lawsuit against Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company over its operation of natural gas turbines in Southaven.
The DOJ has until June 15 to intervene.
The federal government’s interest comes as xAI considers going public this summer.
https://mississippitoday.org/2026/05/25/elon-musk-xai-dater-center-mississippi/
They are cosplay revolutionaries
Candidly Tiff
@tify330
I’m curious why they thought going to Cuba and sharing it on social media wouldn’t attract the attention of the DOJ. This admin is determined to make an example of certain individuals, and they’ve done this repeatedly.
This is not surprising even if it’s baseless.
I detest this DOJ’s intimidation tactics. I won’t cheer someone getting a subpoena, even if I dislike them, but people must strategically move smarter, knowing this DOJ is vindictive and reckless.
9:31 AM · May 25, 2026
https://x.com/tify330/status/2058918794811097504?s=20
Longtime Black Man Here
@groove_sdc
Same folks who’ve been talking about killing Democrats with a guillotine for years suddenly have hit the fainting couches that people won’t defend Hasan’s bullshit.
It’s all scorn and condemnation until it actually impacts them then they demand solidarity they never reciprocate.
7:21 AM · May 25, 2026
https://x.com/groove_sdc/status/2058886179387310245?s=20
When they were all big and bad, talking about how ICE would be outside of those stadiums. Did they really think that there wouldn’t be repercussions?
That people just HAD to subject themselves to that possible nightmare in the United States?
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Luna 🇺🇸
@LunaForTruth
70% of FIFA hotel bookings in Boston, Dallas, LA, Philly & Seattle are CANCELED.
80% of hoteliers say bookings are below forecasts. NYC may LOSE money on the World Cup.
Trump’s visa chaos & immigration threats are killing the US economy.
https://x.com/LunaForTruth/status/2058470261083795727?s=20
Author Myron J. Clifton
@deardean22.bsky.social
Leftists are the new angriest online folk.
What are they angry about now?
That Black folk reject their mascot of the moment…
https://bsky.app/profile/deardean22.bsky.social/post/3mmn4bxelyk2h
Penelope
@bollymama.bsky.social
Follow back
I feel like they’re worse lately because we’re ignoring them. They’ve been exposed as full of it, so more of us are blocking their fake virtue signaling because we don’t want to waste the energy. Part of their thing was the (fake) cause; the other part was attention and we’ve told them to F off 🤷🏽♀️
7:24 PM · May 24, 2026
https://bsky.app/profile/bollymama.bsky.social/post/3mmn7nka4bk2s
Greg Bluestein
@bluestein
Jon Ossoff is making two big bets in his reelection campaign:
Run harder against Donald Trump in a state Trump carried in 2024.
And lock arms early with Keisha Lance Bottoms to show Democrats are unified while Republicans slog through costly runoffs. #gapol
https://x.com/bluestein/status/2058873231109509138?s=20
Christopher Webb
@cwebbonline
I didn’t know about the earliest origin of Memorial Day until I was a grown-ass man, and it’s because some folks didn’t want us to.
In 2021, organizers at an Ohio Memorial Day ceremony muted retired Army Lt. Col. Barnard Kemter for nearly two minutes the moment he began discussing how formerly enslaved Black Americans exhumed the remains of Union soldiers to give them proper burials.
https://x.com/cwebbonline/status/2058931217836523689?s=20
Happy Memorial Day!😊😊😊