June 2, 2023: Decoration Day Histories: So What?

[Followingup Monday’s Memorial Day special, a series on some of the complex Americanhistories connected to the holiday’s original identity as DecorationDay.]

On threeways to argue for remembering Decoration Day as well as Memorial Day.

If someone(like, I dunno, an imaginary voice in my head to prompt this post…) were to askme why we should better remember the histories I’ve traced in this week’sposts—were, that is, to respond with the “So what?” of today’s title—my firstanswer would be simple: because they happened. There are many things abouthistory of which we can’t be sure, nuances or details that will always remainuncertain or in dispute. But there are many others that are in fact quiteclear, and we just don’t remember them clearly: and the origins and initialmeanings of Decoration Day are just such clear historical facts. Indeed, soclear were those Decoration Day starting points that most Southern states chosenot to recognize the holiday at all in its early years. I can’t quite imagine agood-faith argument for not better remembering clear historical facts(especially when they’re as relevant as the origins of a holiday are on thatholiday!), and I certainly don’t have any interest in engaging with such anargument.

But thereare also other, broader arguments for better remembering these histories. Forone thing, the changes in the meanings and commemorations of Decoration Day,and then the gradual shift to Memorial Day, offer a potent illustration of thelongstanding role and power of white supremacist perspectives (not necessarilyin the most discriminatory or violent senses of the concept, but rather ascaptured by that Nation editorial’spoint about the negro “disappearing from the field of national politics”) inshaping our national narratives, histories, and collective memories. In much ofmy teaching, writing, and work over the last decade I’ve argued for what Icalled a more inclusivevs. a more exclusive version of American history, one thatovertly pushes back on those kinds of narrow, exclusionary, white supremacisthistorical narratives in favor of a broader and (to my mind) far more accuratesense of all the American communities that have contributed to and been part ofour identity and story. Remembering Decoration Day as well as Memorial Daywould represent precisely such an inclusive rather than more exclusive versionof American history.

There’salso another way to think about and frame that argument. Throughout the lastfew years, conservatives have argued that the new Common Core and AP USHistory standards portray and teach a “negative” vision ofAmerican history, rather than the celebratory one for which these commentatorsargue instead (we saw the same argument made at length in the 1776 Commission report).As so many historiansand scholars have noted in response, these arguments are at bestoversimplified, at worst blatantly inaccurate. But it is fair to say thatbetter remembering painful histories such as those of slavery, segregation, andlynching can be a difficult process, especially if we seek to make them morecentral to our collective national memories. So the more we can find inspiringmoments and histories, voices and perspectives, that connect both to thosepainful histories and to more ideal visions of American identity and community,the more likely it is (I believe) that we will remember them. And I know of fewAmerican histories more inspiring than that of Decoration Day: its origins andpurposes, its advocates like Frederick Douglass, and its strongest enduringmeaning for the African American community—and, I would argue, for all of us.

May Recapthis weekend,

Ben

PS. Whatdo you think?