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| NEWS of the Day - May 30, 2011 |
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on some issues of interest to the community policing and neighborhood activist across the country
EDITOR'S NOTE: The following group of articles from local newspapers and other sources constitutes but a small percentage of the information available to the community policing and neighborhood activist public. It is by no means meant to cover every possible issue of interest, nor is it meant to convey any particular point of view ...
We present this simply as a convenience to our readership ... |
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From Google News
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Memorial Day, from Civil War to the Present
The holiday originated in a divided nation; now it both honors those who died and marks the entrance of summer.
by Anthony Karge
Traditionally, Memorial Day is the unofficial start of summer and a weekend full of parades, hamburgers and long road trips.
Most importantly, it's a day to remember those who have died in defense of this country, although the holiday had a rocky start in this regard.
Despite its status as a national holiday, the origins of what was once known as “Decoration Day” are shrouded in incomplete historical records and the division between the North and the South caused by the Civil War. |
According to USMemorialDay.org the original name for the holiday was inspired when women adorned Confederate soldiers' gravestones after the Civil War ended. But tensions between the two regions caused the holiday to be stuck in limbo as a national celebration for more than 50 years.
Memorial Day was first proclaimed in 1868 when the graves of soldiers buried at Arlington Cemetery in Washington D.C. were decorated. By 1890, all the northern states adopted the holiday, but the South refused and celebrated the dead in their own ways. That changed in the early 20th century, when the holiday was changed to also honor the people who died in World War I.
In 1971, the U.S. Congress officially made Memorial Day a federal holiday.
http://norwalk.patch.com/articles/memorial-day-from-civil-war-to-the-present |
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