05/25/2026
Yesterday during our church service at Honeycomb, I presented the Honeycomb Church Military Honor Roll honoring past and present members of Honeycomb and a brief History of Memorial Day. This was my presentation:
The very first Memorial Day was originally called Decoration Day. It was organized by formerly enslaved Black Americans and U.S. Colored Regiments on May 1, 1865 in Charleston, South Carolina, to honor the fallen Union Soldiers. At the end of the Civil War, newly emancipated African Americans in Charleston honored Union soldiers who died in a Confederate prison camp. They exhumed the bodies from a mass grave and gave them proper burials in a new cemetery; constructing a fence with an archway inscribed "Martyrs of the Race Course". A crowd of 10,000 residents, predominantly African American citizens and schoolchildren held a parade, sang patriotic songs, and laid flowers on the graves.
Commemorating Colored Soldiers in Pennsylvania:
African American servicemen have bravely served in every major American conflict. Pennsylvania has several permanent monuments and historical markers that specifically honor these troops:
* The All Wars Memorial honoring Colored Soldiers and Sailors is located in Logan Square along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia, this monument was commissioned in 1927 and dedicated in 1934 to honor Pennsylvania's Colored servicemen from the Revolutionary War through World War I.
* The "Gray Invincibles"was a legendary all-Black unit from Pennsylvania. This militia unit led by Capt. Samuel Beecher Hart, paved the way for the creation of the Philadelphia memorial.
* The 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment: Famous for their assault on Fort Wagner, this regiment and other U.S. Colored Troops marched in that inaugural 1865 Charleston parade, and many Black Pennsylvanians fought in these pivotal units.
Today we honor all Service Men and Women, but we especially Honor our African American Soldiers who despite the hardship and challenges bestowed upon them, carried themselves with dignity and grace. While many white Americans and military leaders harbored racist views and tried to marginalize Black troops, countless others witnessed their bravery on the battlefield and ultimately praised their discipline and patriotism.
