BY BRIANNA J WHITAKER
DISCLAIMER: The following blog content is not fictional and it does depict actual people and actual events that are not taught in most schools across America. Abantu Roots would like to use this platform to provide true information regarding our history and our ancestors.
In elementary school during the section of slavery “which is often covered during Black History Month” most of us learned about the U.S 16th President Abraham Lincoln and the Emancipation Proclamation. Due to the failure of America’s public school system, most students are taught that Lincoln’s Executive Order of this emancipation ended chattel slavery in the United States.
Did you know that even though Proclamation 95 was issued on January 1, 1863, slaves in Texas weren’t officially free until June 19,1865 and even some until after the harvest of 1867?
See Tribe, the announcement of freedom was not relayed to the slaves in the Confederate States of America until Union soldiers led by Major General Gordon Granger were able to enforce this executive order in Galveston, Texas.
Now 154 years later, as a culture we make it a priority to pay homage and celebrate our freedom in the land our ancestors built. If you are still unsure of the meaning and purpose of this day, no worries, we have provided some seeds of knowledge below!
The Devil is in the Details
As mentioned above Major Granger enforced an executive order of the emancipation, but there was also a loophole in his words. Here is a snippet of what is believed to be said by Major on this day.
“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.”
After the chains were removed from the women and men in bondage, hardships and cruelty still occurred. For the Jubilees who celebrated their new gained freedom, white oppressors did everything in their power to keep the newly freed slaves in mental bondage.
Government Policies
Some freedmen did stay with their masters and became sharecroppers, while droves of other freedmen scattered towards other states preferably north.
Though the migration to the North and the West gave space for the freedmen to start a new life, legal limitations prevented the former slaves to prosper. Jim Crow Laws were new policies enforced that could result in a free black man or woman losing their freedom and placed into a new form of slavery behind prison bars.
The Clap Black!
History has shown us that as a race we have always been forward thinking. Jim Crow laws did not hinder us in the way our oppressors and lawmakers imagined. Since Juneteenth, here is a snippet of civil achievements that occurred after Freedom Day that attributed to the advancement of our people.
1865: Bowie State University is founded as Baltimore Normal School.
1865:The National Baptist Convention opens Shaw University in Raleigh, NC.
Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee was founded for former slaves in 1866.
July 9,1868 The 14TH Amendment grants freed slaves citizenship.
February 3, 1870, the 15TH amendment granted African American Men.
July 4,1881 Booker T, Washington founded the Tuskegee Institute.
May 18, 1896, US Federal Court rules in Favor “Separate but Equal” Plessy vs Ferguson
February 12, 1909, New York, NAACP Founded
1916: Marcus Garvey founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association
1920: The Harlem Renaissance
1941: The Fair Employment Act is launched.
May 17, 1954, Brown v. Board Of Education, prohibiting segregation in public schools
We have always heard from our family members, how we have come a long way and still have farther to go. This Juneteenth it is important to think about the upcoming elections and how we can continue to change the conditions of our people to ensure we continue to advance. With the ongoing conversation around the topic of reparations and prison reform not only is Juneteenth a day a celebration, but it is also a day to collaborate with brothers and sisters of the culture to ensure that our future generations can reap all of the benefits we have sown.
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