Via Think Progress:
According to Professor David Blight of Yale University, the first Memorial Day took place on May 1, 1865 in Charleston, SC, after a group of African-Americans, mostly former slaves, gave 257 Union soldiers a proper burial.
The black community in Charleston then consecrated the new cemetery with “an unforgettable parade of 10,000 people,” led by 3,000 black school children.
It was initially called “Decoration Day.”
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