“The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor. The freedmen are advised to remain quietly at their present homes and work for wages. They are informed that they will not be allowed to collect at military posts and that they will not be supported in idleness either there or elsewhere.”
In about two weeks, on July 4th, America will commemorate Independence Day. Two days ago, African Americans observed Independence Day delayed. The celebrations, parades, barbecues, speeches, and TV specials are in-the-books. Juneteenth ’23 is officially done and over. Except…in this space. Marching to my own drummer, as I am wont to do, I’m taking one more bite of the apple…for your edification.
For some it may seem that a lot is made over the phenomenon familiarly known as Juneteenth, aka Freedom Day. Indeed, a lot was earned; nothing, and I mean, nothing was unduly given. Juneteenth (officially Juneteenth National Independence Day), is a federal holiday in the United States commemorating the emancipation of enslaved African Americans. Deriving its name from combining June and nineteenth, it is celebrated on the anniversary of the order by Major General Gordon Granger proclaiming freedom for enslaved people in Texas on June 19, 1865 (two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation was issued).[7] Originating in Galveston, Juneteenth has since been observed annually in various parts of the United States, often broadly celebrating African-American culture. The day was recognized as a federal holiday in 2021, when President Joe Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act into law.
There is so much about Juneteenth that epitomizes and/or parallels the relationship between African Americans and America, and that strikingly elevates for all to observe, the travesty of promises made, by our founding documents, yet denied for centuries to men and women of the African diaspora. On one hand, whether, as a matter of political expediency, one’s point of reference is 1619, or 1776, there is nothing to debate about the existence of slavery on the land we call America, dating back to 1619. On the other hand, whether one claims 1863, or 1865 as the end of slavery, the span of time during which slavery was a thing on these shores is more than two centuries, and roughly 10 generations. For a nation that many characterize as exceptional, ordained by God, and a host of other similarly high-minded, and some would argue, undeserved, appellations, that’s one hell of a blot.
On January 1, 1863, Lincoln issued the final Emancipation Proclamation.[5] After quoting from the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, it stated:
I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, by virtue of the power in me vested as Commander-in-Chief, of the Army and Navy of the United States in time of actual armed rebellion against authority and government of the United States, and as a fit and necessary war measure for suppressing said rebellion, do ... order and designate as the States and parts of States wherein the people thereof respectively, are this day in rebellion, against the United States, the following, to wit:
Lincoln then listed the ten states[6] still in rebellion, excluding parts of states under Union control, and continued:
I do order and declare that all persons held as slaves within said designated States, and parts of States, are, and henceforward shall be free. ... [S]uch persons of suitable condition, will be received into the armed service of the United States. ... And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of justice, warranted by the Constitution, upon military necessity, I invoke the considerate judgment of mankind, and the gracious favor of Almighty God.
On September 22, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln announced that the Emancipation Proclamation would go into effect on January 1, 1863, promising freedom to enslaved people in all of the rebellious parts of Southern states of the Confederacy including Texas.
The Emancipation Proclamation did not free slaves in border states, such as Delaware, Maryland, and West Virginia, nor in certain counties or parishes in otherwise rebellious states because, although the Emancipation Proclamation declared an end to slavery in the Confederate States, it did not end slavery in the states that remained in, and loyal to, the Union. As a result, for a short while after the fall of the Confederacy, slavery remained legal in Delaware and Kentucky.[27][28][29][30][c] Those enslaved people were not freed until the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which abolished chattel slavery nationwide, on December 6, 1865. Enforcement of the Proclamation generally relied upon the advance of Union troops. Texas, as the most remote state of the former Confederacy, had seen an expansion of slavery because the presence of Union troops was low as the American Civil War ended; thus, the enforcement of the Emancipation Proclamation had been slow and inconsistent there prior to Granger's order.[7]
In other words, The White men who ran Texas, and in those days, the public officials who called the shots in Texas, and in all the other states, were all White and all male, said thanks, but no thanks, Abe. It was not until Lincoln pulled the military trump card that Texas complied. In a not difficult to see way, that scenario explains why so many White people in America love their guns…and hate their government. They believe, were it not for the infernal government, they could have successfully resisted emancipation, in perpetuity, and they are certain that had they not been outgunned by Lincoln’s Union Army, they could have taken on the military and won.
These two sentiments undergird a smoldering urge to reprise the Civil War. Doubt it at your own peril, but there is a substantial, and I believe growing urge in this country to transform the current culture war into an armed conflict. But that’s a post for another day. Right now, one last time, I implore you, commemorate…”Juneteenth: An American Celebration!”
I’m done; holla back!
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A new post is published each Wednesday. For more detailed information on a variety of aspects relating to this post, consult the links below:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emancipation_Proclamation
http://thesphinxofcharlotte.blogspot.com/2023/06/here-we-go-again-again.html
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