Republished and updated in honor of Memorial Day and the Black Union soldiers we should not forget —DOV
A pencil drawing and a grainy photo in the Library of Congress are all that is left of the cemetery where 257 Union soldiers were buried after the Civil War, on what had been a race course in Charleston, South Carolina.
Nor has much been written about the memorial celebration held by more than 10,000 mostly newly freed Black people, which was one of the first, if not the first memorial held for those who fought to end slavery.
At a time when Memorial Day also serves to pay tribute to those who have died in the COVID-19 pandemic, we honor those essential workers who have fallen in the service of protecting us all.