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“The Reveille of Freedom”: Decoration Day in the Age of Reconstruction
May 25, 2022 @ 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm
“Their soldier lives were the reveille of freedom to a race in chains, and their deaths the tattoo of rebellious tyranny in arms.” – General John Logan, 1868
When US General John Logan issued orders in 1868 formalizing the establishment of Decoration Day in 1868, he tapped into an existing movement of mourning. Throughout the South, Black Americans had already begun gathering at national cemeteries to celebrate, as one reporter to a cemetery in Georgia remarked, “those through whose sufferings and death a race rose up from chains.” Join Park Ranger Chris Barr on Wednesday May 25 at 6pm at the Second Founding of America Learning Center at 913 West Street for a special presentation on the history of Decoration Day and explore how this Reconstruction era commemoration served as an emancipation celebration in many communities.
*This presentation will be recorded, but we are still working on a livestream option*
