THE GREENSBORO TIMES Publisher’s View


African Americans originated Memorial Day Celebration Later this month on Monday


May 28th, 2018, Americans of all walks of life will celebrate Memorial Day. Memorial Day is an American holiday


honoring the men and Earl Jones, Publisher


women who died while serving in the US Military. Originally known as “Decoration Day”, it originated immediately after the Civil War. Many Americans observe the holiday by visiting cemeteries or memorials, holding family cookouts


and participating


gatherings, in


parades. Many Greensboro African American young adults attend the Memorial Day Black Motorcycle rally weekend event at Myrtle Beach, South Carolina to celebrate the holiday. Unofficially, Memorial Day marks the beginning of the summer season.


Many Americans are unaware that African Americans first


originated the celebration of Memorial Day. America has attempted to erase Memorial Day from its African American roots. “Decoration Day” began in the immediate aftermath of the Civil War. It was a tradition initiated by former slaves to celebrate emancipation of slavery and commemorate those who died in the Union’s cause to end slavery in the United States. They celebrated those who fought for justice and liberation. To truly celebrate the holiday means reviving the visions of emancipation, liberation and freedom that was the cornerstone for newly freed slaves to celebrate “Decoration Day.”


As the Civil War came to a close in April 1965, Union troops


entered the City of Charleston, South Carolina while White residents had largely fled the city, Black residents remained to celebrate and welcome the troops, who included the Twenty-First Colored Infantry. Their celebration on May 1, 1865, was the first “Decoration Day”, later became Memorial Day. On that day, Black Charlestonians


by 3,000 Black school children carrying arm loads of roses and singing “John Brown’s Body” and the “Star Spangled Banner” and spirituals before Black ministers read scriptures. The children were followed by several hundred African- American women with baskets of flowers, wreaths and crosses. Then came African-American men marching in cadence, followed by contingents of Union Infantry and other Black and White citizens.


The American portrayal of the Civil War has been whitewashed.


The Civil War has been largely portrayed as an all-white occurrence, a tragic conflict of brother against brother with Abraham Lincoln being portrayed as the liberator standing above the kneeling slave. In reality, the fighting Black soldier and rebellious slave participation in the Civil War was a life and death struggle against slavery and a true social revolution. The Black slave participation in the Civil War was the major factor for a Union victory. Lincoln was keenly aware of what could make the difference in winning the war and issued his emancipation proclamation two years before the end of the war. The whitewashing of Memorial Day was the white supremacist retelling of the War that lead to the Reconstruction Era and Jim Crow. This portrayal was only exposed in official academic circles in the 1950’s and 60’s during the Civil Rights Movement as African Americans fought their way into the country’s universities.


On May 5, 1868, General John Logan issued a Proclamation


calling for “Decoration Day” to be observed annually nationwide. With his proclamation America adopted the Memorial Day practice that began in Charleston in 1865. In 1971, “Memorial Day” was declared a national holiday by an act of Congress, though it is still often called Decoration Day. It was then also placed on the last Monday in May.


in cooperation with


White missioners and teachers, staged a parade for more than 10,000 people on the slave owners horse race track. The procession was led


As we celebrate this year’s Memorial Day, we must remember its beginnings and the revolutionary spirit of freedom and justice for which it stands. We should honor those men and women who fought and died in every American conflict with the belief and ideals of freedom, equality and justice symbolic of the vision and ideals of those who celebrated the first Memorial Day in Charleston, South Carolina on May 1, 1865.


ITS Relocation Project – GTCC Jamestown Campus


Sealed proposals will be received until 3:00 P.M. on Thursday, June 14, 2018 in the Construction Office, Machinery Hall, Room 111, GTCC, 601 East Main Street, Jamestown, NC 27282, for the ITS Relocation Project. At that time and place bids will be opened and read aloud. Work consists of, but is not limited to, First Floor: 12,850 sf Interior Renovation with minor sitework, fire protection, plumbing, mechanical and electrical systems. Utility Area Floor: 5,061 sf unfinished concrete slab on structural steel frame on loadbearing cmu and steel tubes. All work to be per the project contract documents. A pre-bid meeting will be held at 10:00 AM on Wednesday, May 23, 2018, in Sears Applied Technology Building Auditorium at GTCC, 601 East Main Street, Jamestown, NC 27282. Attendance is mandatory. A link for downloading complete plans and specifications for this project can be obtained by any general contractor that will be submitting a single prime bid to the Owner, by contacting Barbara Lane with Lane Architecture, Inc. Charlotte, NC at barbara@ barabaralanearchitecture.com, during normal office hours beginning May 16, 2018. GTCC solicits a 10% MBE/WBE participation and reserves the right to reject any and all proposals and waiver informalities in bidding.


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