Mayor Lamar Thorpe's 2022 Memorial Day Speech

Mayor Lamar Thorpe delivered remarks at the city’s 2022 Memorial Day Celebration.

The Civil War and the emancipation of Africans represent the rebirth of Americanism and the meaning of freedom and liberty in the country.

The first Memorial Day can be traced back to President Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. President Lincoln mourned and honored those soldiers who gave their lives to end the enslavement of Africans in the U.S.

Lincoln lamented:

“…that these dead shall not have died in vain”.

In Antioch, Lincoln’s messages are demonstrated by the city electing its second African American mayor and African American majority city council. Antioch is also home to a growing African American population that makes up over 20% of the city, which historically was not open and kind to Black people.

Memorial Day was codified into law in 1971.