This Memorial Day, while the rest of America fires up grills and waves flags, we at BlackSourceMedia.com remember the true origins of Memorial Day—and the Black heroes who made it matter.
Take a look at the powerful artwork above: three Tuskegee Airmen, Black pilots who fought for freedom overseas while still facing racism at home. One of them asks, “Do I smell a plantation burning?”—a line that hits even harder this year.
That’s because the Nottingham Plantation in Louisiana recently burned to the ground. And while no one was injured, the symbolism couldn’t be clearer: America’s legacy of slavery is still smoldering, still echoing through time. And this Memorial Day, the past is burning its way into the present.
Memorial Day Was Started by Black People in 1865
Long before it was a federal holiday, Memorial Day began in Charleston, South Carolina, in May 1865. Newly freed Black Americans—many still living under the weight of post-slavery trauma—organized the first large public memorial for Union soldiers.
Over 10,000 freedmen and women, including Black ministers, teachers, and schoolchildren, exhumed a mass grave, gave the Union dead proper burials, and held a parade, worship service, and picnic to honor them. These soldiers, mostly white, had died fighting for Black liberation.
This wasn’t just a ceremony. It was a declaration: Black lives, Black mourning, and Black memory matter. The first Memorial Day was a Black celebration of freedom.
Related: The Unbreakable Spirit of Black America: Triumph in the Face of Oppression
From Charleston to Tuskegee to a Plantation in Flames
Fast forward to World War II: the Tuskegee Airmen, the first Black military pilots, flew dangerous missions in Europe while fighting a war for equality back home. They wore the uniform of a nation that still denied them full citizenship.
And now, in 2024, we find ourselves talking about the Nottoway Plantation—a symbol of Southern slavery—burning to the ground in Louisiana. Coincidence? Maybe. But it sure feels like history refusing to stay buried.
That’s why the cartoon matters. That’s why the line—“Do I smell a plantation burning?”—resonates so deeply. It connects the dots between past oppression, Black resistance, and today’s ongoing reckoning with racism and truth.
Honor the Soldiers—But Tell the Whole Story
Yes, Memorial Day is about honoring the fallen. But we cannot forget who was first to remember them. Black Americans didn’t wait for permission to grieve. They built this tradition from the ground up—just like they built the economy, the military, and the soul of this country.
So don’t just thank a soldier. Please tell the truth.
Tell people that Black men and women founded Memorial Day.
Tell them Tuskegee Airmen flew missions for a country that still feared their freedom.
Oh and tell them a plantation just burned—and the past is still burning with it.
This Memorial Day, I honor the lives we lost and the legacies we’re still fighting to reclaim.
So yes, my brother—I do smell a plantation burning.
And maybe it’s about damn time.