Memorial Day, observed on the last Monday of May, is a day to remember those who died while serving in the U.S. military. The holiday's origins trace back to the American Civil War, which resulted in over 600,000 deaths.
Initially known as Decoration Day, the first national observance occurred on May 30, 1868. Union veterans called for decorating war graves with flowers. Several cities claim to be the birthplace of the holiday, including Waterloo, New York, and Boalsburg, Pennsylvania.
Yale history professor David Blight highlights a May 1, 1865 event in Charleston, South Carolina. Thousands of people, many of them Black, honored Union soldiers who died in a Confederate prison. Black churches reburied them in individual graves.
The addition of Armistice Day (later Veterans Day) somewhat diminished Memorial Day's potency. In 1971, Congress moved Memorial Day to the last Monday in May. This created a three-day weekend and acknowledged the holiday's transformation into a more generic day of remembrance and leisure.