(Please
enjoy this reprised edition of “Break It Down.” This post was originally published May 30,
2012 at: http://thesphinxofcharlotte.blogspot.com)
OK, so Memorial
Day was earlier this week. You may be familiar with my
holiday week philosophy, which is: make it easy on the readers, who are always
otherwise engaged, no matter the holiday. Of course, in the process, I am
also giving myself a break. That makes for a natural win-win
scenario.
With that overarching thought in mind, I will
endeavor to apply three elementary rules of communication:
1.
Utilize the KISS Principle, AKA,
Keep It Short & Simple (also Keep It Simple Stupid)
2.
Convey new or “not widely circulated” information
3.
Always remember to emphasize points 1 and 2
above
Memorial Day is a federal holiday to honor America’s fallen soldiers. It originated after
the Civil War. Falling between Easter and Independence Day, it is often equated with
a late spring break, or a pre-summer respite. The weekend typically
includes a cornucopia of sports. For example this week included the
NASCAR Coca-Cola 600, the NBA Conference Finals, College Men’s
Baseball playoffs, and College Women’s Softball competition, among
others.
With the rapidly
heating-up political season thrown in the mix, the holiday is sometimes almost
lost in the shuffle. But wait; Memorial Day has a special cultural
significance. In fact, it is because of that nexus we should pay special homage to this late spring holiday.
The first well-know
observance of a Memorial Day type was held May 1, 1865 in Charleston,
South Carolina. Over 250 Union solders
that had been prisoners of war, died in Charleston, and were quickly
buried in makeshift graves. A group blacks, mostly freedmen,
organized the observance and led cleanup and landscaping of the burial site.
Most of the nearly 10,000
people who attended were freedman and their families. Of that
number, 3.000 were children, newly enrolled in freedman’s
schools. Mutual aid societies, black ministers, and
white Northern missionaries were also in attendance.
David
W. Blight, Professor of American History at Yale
University, and Director of the school's Gilder-Lehrman
Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, & Abolition,
described the day this way:
"This was the
first Memorial Day. African Americans invented Memorial Day in Charleston,
South Carolina. What you have there is black Americans recently freed from
slavery announcing to the world with their flowers, their feet, and their songs
what the War had been about. What they basically were creating was the
Independence Day of a Second American Revolution.”
Professor Blight conceded there is no evidence that the Charleston
event led directly to the establishment of Memorial Day across the
country. But the record is clear they formed the earliest truly
large-scale event, complete with media coverage. Their effort was
the prototype, if not the catalyst.
Having said that, I
believe I honored the rules established above for this post:
1 Told this story in a direct and uncomplicated
fashion
2 Presented information I am confident most readers did
not know
3 Recognized points 1 and 2, were
accomplished and closed the post
Enjoy your bonus time, and
be sure to reflect on “Memorial Day: What Your Teachers Never Told You!”
I’m done; holla back!
Read my blog
anytime by clicking the link: http://thesphinxofcharlotte.blogspot.com.
A new post is published each Wednesday. For more detailed
information on a variety of aspects relating to this post, consult the links
below:
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