Memorial Day kicked off the week. While working on many things over the longish wknd with @WNYC on in the background, hearing the opener of On The Media (@onthemedia / @onthemedia-blog ) I was reminded (thank you) of the disputed but highly likely origins of this holiday: that it started “unofficially” in the Spring of 1865 in Charleston when a group of former slaves were tasked to exhume a mass grave of (hundreds? Thousands?) Union Soldiers and then proceeded to solemnly yet respectfully rebury them one by one. That painstaking task took weeks to carry out and culminated with a parade led by thousands of black children and thousands of freeman adults too. Years later a more formal and official (govt sanctioned) nation-wide annual celebration ensued. It makes absolute sense that this holiday would originate with Civil War Era Black Americans or black Americans of any era for that matter. Rooted in W. African traditions & cultural rites of honoring ancestors, those who not only came before us but also sacrificed so much, including at times their very lives, for us to live better ones. Buoyed by remembering this cultural connection I was as quickly dismayed to see no inclusion of these early African Americans on a very official sounding Memorial Day site (usmemorialday.org) nor a strong or convincing connection to this uplifting story in Wikipedia’s Memorial Day entry. The “official site” had not so much of a mention of the re-burial and the parade led by black children that DID IN FACT TAKE PLACE. Whether or not it was THE first “official" Memorial Day (’prolly was. Although many towns Northern and Southern claim to be where Memorial Day originated.) – either way it was certainly one of the FIRST American Memorial commemorations at a GRAND LEVEL (we’re talking thousands of ppl involved unlike the much smaller ones that took place in other towns. Such a diminishing and dismissive way of retelling historic accounts yet sadly so typical of contemporary historic reference material in this (apparently still as-racist-as-ever) nation that seems to stubbornly resist giving any acknowledgment of anything big or small to African heritage people – enslaved, emancipated, born free or otherwise. It is even more infuriating, as a descendant of enslaved and later emancipated North American Negroes, a people named and renamed more than 5 times throughout the 20th Century (i.e., black, negro, colored/coloured, Afro American, African American… with other tangental labels depending on how mixed your lineage might be (i.e. mulatto, quadroon, octaroon…) — defined almost exclusively by color or a hairstyle vs. any specific national or (erased) ethnic origin … a uniquely American people, tragically more rejected vs. embraced by this most powerful of New World Nations — one empowered by centuries and generations of humans subjected to chattel slavery and their collective, uncompensated toil. Humans who were both stolen and systemically stolen from in all conceivable ways, an itemized accounting too long for this post. A cumulative theft amounting to layers and layers of loss atop loss, beyond belief and barely measured. Yes, the same powerful nation we continue to create for and contribute to, having enriched this country in countless ways arguably like no other American ethnic group in it’s history. Including being overly represented in military service and sacrifice yet egregiously underrepresented in citizen's rights. So let all this marinate this Memorial Day week and beyond. The next time you celebrate it or do any kind of commemoration, perhaps consider factoring in a libation: an African origin ritual of heritage, a poured drink offering to honor the Creator, ancestors, humans present and not present, and the environment. Typically, alcohol (which is thought to connect the living world with the spiritual) and poured onto the ground in each of the cardinal directions. Prayers or toasts are recited in honor of sacred ancestors and more recently deceased loved ones. A libation ceremony is also an opportunity to honor family elders. Or at the very least simply take time for deeper reflection and to learn more of our country’s hidden history so we can all acknowledge and honor one another more inclusively. Thanks OTM. (libation sources utilized: @africanholocaus “Libation in Africa” and @theknot’s “African and Afrocentric Traditions" article - thank you). Pictures courtesy of NYPL digital collection. One sketch shows a brave African heritage soldier in America’s Revolutionary War, the other depicts frontline black Union Soldiers in the American Civil War. Photo is of World War I Era soldiers, NYPL’s caption: “Color bearers of the 15th Infantry Regiment of the New York NationalGuard, which later became the 369th Infantry, 1918“
