05/25/2026
Did you know, what we now know as Memorial Day began as a celebration of Black Union soldiers returning home at the end of the U.S. Civil War in Charleston, S.C. on May 1, 1865 and was declared Decoration Day?
The concept that this country “must remember the sacrifice” of U.S. service members on Memorial Day, without a critical reflection on the wars themselves, did not emerge by accident. It came about in the Jim Crow period as the Northern and Southern ruling classes sought to reunite the country around apolitical mourning, which required erasing the “divisive” issues of slavery and Black citizenship.
Right here in Louisville, KY, the 108th Colored Infantry Regiment played a crucial role in the Union army winning the Civil War. How many of us have never learned of this part of our local history?
That’s why this Memorial Day, we will honor the fallen fighters for justice worldwide, speak plainly about this country’s historic crimes, and re-dedicate ourselves to take on this country’s crimes of the present.
