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THE GREENSBORO TIMES The One Thing > from page 1


that year around 10,000 freed Black men and women gathered in historic Hampton Park. The group placed flowers on the graves of unknown soldiers, a


practice held often in times of war. The event caught the attention of the nation, and it was largely understood by Whites to be a celebration of the Emancipation Proclamation passing in 1863. However, it was far more than that for those gathered.


The town was a Confederate stronghold, and over 250 soldiers


died as prisoners there as Union forces began to overtake the region. The Confederate soldiers buried the dead in unmarked graves and fled in fear. The freed Blacks who came to the Decoration Day event viewed those soldiers as martyrs who died selflessly for their freedom. While their were Black soldiers in the Union Army, the celebration was in honor of all who fought for the winning side.


The research site, Snopes, which also acknowledges that Blacks


founded the holiday, says the commemoration was formalized by an order issued in 1868 by Maj. Gen. John A. Logan, the commander in chief of the Grand Army of the Republic, who called for the annual decoration of war graves.


According to Snopes: 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 that Decoration Day should be observed on May 30. It is believed that date was chosen because flowers would be in bloom all over the country….


In May 1966 the city of Waterloo, New York, was designated as


the “Birthplace of Memorial Day” via a Congressional resolutions and presidential proclamation commemorating a patriotic observance held in that town one hundred years earlier[.]


We are happy to be able to add Memorial Day to our innumerable contributions of African Americas to the United States of America.


Norman B. Smith, Attorney at Law Smith, James, Rowlett & Cohen, L.L.P.


Call 336-254-8725 Get a jump on your competition... Advertise.


101 S Elm Street, Post Office Box 990, Greensboro, N.C. 27402 normanbsmith@earthlink.net


PHONE- (336) 274-2992 FAX- (336) 274-8490


Serving Greensboro, Guilford County and Surrounding Counties in North Carolina


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