The Many Origin Stories of Memorial Day
SmartHERNews
Jenna Lee
4.9 • 660 Ratings
🗓️ 22 May 2026
⏱️ 22 minutes
🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
What is the real origin of Memorial Day?
More than 20 places across the United States claim a connection to the beginning of Memorial Day — and historians still don’t point to one single story as the origin. In this episode, Jenna explores the many stories behind one of America’s most solemn national holidays, from Charleston, South Carolina, to Waterloo, New York, to Arlington National Cemetery.
Memorial Day honors the men and women who died in service to the United States. But over time, the holiday has also become a long weekend filled with barbecues, parades, sales and family gatherings. How do we hold both truths together — the grief and the gratitude, the remembrance and the rest?
In this special Memorial Day episode, we look back at the Civil War origins of the holiday, the role of local communities in decorating soldiers’ graves and General John A. Logan’s 1868 order calling Americans to remember those who gave their lives for the country.
Perhaps the question isn’t which Memorial Day origin story is true.
Perhaps the question is: What if they all are?
Listen for a thoughtful look at the history, mystery and meaning of Memorial Day — and why remembering the stories matters.
Timestamps / Chapters:
00:00 Memorial Day: Grief, Gratitude and Mixed Feelings
00:47 Why Memorial Day Became a Long Weekend
02:14 Jenna’s Personal Connection to Memorial Day
04:03 Why Memorial Day Has More Than One Origin Story
06:00 Civil War Roots of Memorial Day
06:55 Charleston’s Racecourse Reburial Story
10:12 Waterloo, New York’s Memorial Day Claim
11:45 How Southern Women Helped Spread the Tradition
17:42 The First National Memorial Day at Arlington
19:12 General Logan’s 1868 Memorial Day Order
21:43 Why These Memorial Day Words Still Matter
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | I learned something new about Memorial Day that has forever changed my perspective, and I'd love to share this with you. |
| 0:06.1 | Hi, everybody. I'm Jenna, and this is Smarter News. And Memorial Day is a well-known holiday in America. |
| 0:12.1 | It honors those who were specifically killed in action, killed in combat in service to the nation. |
| 0:18.0 | And so it's a solemn, serious holiday. And at the same time, I'm sure you are seeing, |
| 0:23.6 | you know, celebration signs. There's parades and there's sales right before I got online here |
| 0:29.1 | to record this for you. I was hit by email saying 50% off. I'm like, that looks like a pretty good deal. |
| 0:34.7 | You know, you're inundated by the sales and the happy Memorial |
| 0:38.8 | Days, and at the same time, it's a holiday that is not happy for so many. And it's challenging |
| 0:45.7 | to hold these things together. It is somewhat intentional, by the way, that there are sales and |
| 0:51.7 | celebrations and a long holiday weekend for Memorial Day. Congress passed |
| 0:56.4 | legislation back in the 1970s that placed several holidays, including Memorial Day. So Martin Luther |
| 1:01.6 | King Day, President's Day, Labor Day as part of a three-day weekend with an eye towards |
| 1:08.1 | economic stimulus. So we're going to celebrate these occasions in a specific way |
| 1:12.8 | that we think will be beneficial to the economy. So the sales and the celebrations and the barbecues |
| 1:18.4 | and the events are in some way intentional and part of this. And we know that sometimes the parade |
| 1:26.7 | also has these moments that allows us to reflect |
| 1:30.4 | on those who made the ultimate sacrifice. If you speak to those most impacted by Memorial Day, |
| 1:36.1 | most connected to it, those that have actually lost loved ones, they will tell you that they don't |
| 1:41.5 | want to take the barbecues away from you or the celebrations or even the |
| 1:45.7 | sales. They just want to make sure that while you're enjoying these things, you're thinking |
| 1:50.2 | about those who made the sacrifice and their families and keeping their stories alive. |
| 1:57.2 | And that's one of the things that we try to do every Memorial Day here on Smarter News is that we want to make sure we talk about Memorial Day. |
... |
Transcript will be available on the free plan in 14 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Jenna Lee, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Jenna Lee and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.