Uploaded May 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
We had to reshare for #MemorialDay. In the course of his research, historian David Blight discovered an account of a Memorial Day (or, as it was first called, Decoration Day) celebration in the aftermath of the Civil War, led by Black people and Union soldiers in Charleston, South Carolina.
On May 1, 1865, Black workmen went to the site of an outdoor Confederate prison in Charleston and reburied the dead Union soldiers that had been left in a mass grave. They built a high fence around the property to protect the site, then joined with white missionaries and teachers in a march of 10,000 around the grounds. Blight believes this event to have been the earliest Memorial Day, founded by African Americans in a ritual of remembrance and consecration.
We had to reshare for #MemorialDay. In the course of his research, historian David Blight discovered an account of a Memorial Day (or, as it was first called, Decoration Day) celebration in the aftermath of the Civil War, led by Black people and Union soldiers in Charleston, South Carolina.
On May 1, 1865, Black workmen went to the site of an outdoor Confederate prison in Charleston and reburied the dead Union soldiers that had been left in a mass grave. They built a high fence around the property to protect the site, then joined with white missionaries and teachers in a march of 10,000 around the grounds. Blight believes this event to have been the earliest Memorial Day, founded by African Americans in a ritual of remembrance and consecration.
![World War II // The Citizenship Project [E06]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/_Qj5dI8mx5g/mqdefault.jpg "World War II // The Citizenship Project [E06]
Those who take the U.S. Citizenship Test must understand the reasons behind the United States’ involvement in World War II, why the U.S. was initially neutral, and what happened as a result of Imperial Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.
The New-York Historical Society Citizenship Project offers free civics test preparation classes for green card holders. Learn more at https://www.nyhistory.org/citizenship-project
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