As with all national holidays, Memorial Day requires a good dose of people's history to consider its meaning for today. Here, we offer pieces by David W. Blight and Howard Zinn on the use
---- and abuse
---- of Memorial Day, as well as on its hidden origins as a Civil War memorial led by 10,000 Black
Charlestonians in South Carolina.
Source: Owen Freeman
The First Decoration Day
By David W. Blight
Americans understand that Memorial Day, or "Decoration Day," as my parents called it, has something to do with honoring the nation's war dead... But where did it begin, who created it, and why?
As a nation we are at war now, but for most Americans the scale of death and suffering in this seemingly endless wartime belongs to other people far away, or to people in other neighborhoods. Collectively, we are not even allowed to see our war dead today. That was not the case in 1865.
Whom Will We Honor
Memorial Day?
By Howard Zinn
Memorial Day will be celebrated . . . by the usual betrayal of the dead, by the hypocritical patriotism of the politicians and contractors preparing for more wars, more graves to receive more flowers on future Memorial Days. The memory of the dead deserves a different dedication. To peace, to defiance of governments.
Navigating Education in the Pandemic
To support remote teaching and to respond to students' desires to know the truth about the times we are in, we recommend people's history lessons, podcasts, films, digital collections, teaching stories, and articles.
With no corporate sponsors,
100 percent of Zinn Education Project funding comes from
individuals like you.
Make a donation today and help bring people's history lessons to millions of students.
Your donation is needed to keep the Zinn Education Project online, providing teachers, students, and families with free lessons and other people's history resources during the pandemic.
