Memorial Day

What is Memorial Day? I always thought that Memorial Day was just a holiday where all schools closed to remember the veterans who fought in any war that the United States was a part of. I never knew the history of it nor do I ever remember a teacher telling me.

I found that Memorial Day has a lot to do with urban education or at least, it is correlated because it is the day of rememberance of the soldiers that fought during the Civil War. Memorial Day was declared as a National Holiday in 1971.

The Civil War was a fight between the North and South and the sides were split because the North wanted slavery to be abolished while the South wanted it to exist. I think that this has to do with urban education because it was a time of injustice and inequality just as it is with urban education. Also, the people being targeted at this time were slaves (African-Americans) who were poor and majority uneducated. Urban education is similar in that the students are consisted of minorities where the students come from low-income homes and do not receive the same benefits of those living in a suburban community.

After learning all of this, I know that I will never look at Memorial Day the same way and in the future I will teach my students the origin of Memorial Day.