Juneteenth - My First by Lance


I guess the news never made it to the history book in the northern states.  When folks started getting all silly about a rally on this day I really didnt think anything of it.  Just something else for folks to complain about.

Then, I was notified that I'd be receiving time and a half today.  Well, that got me curious so I did some research.  This is no made up holiday, no “greeting card cabal” holiday. This is the real thing. 

The Emancipation Proclamation freed the slaves in 1863, but enforcing the law was uneven, at best. Texas was a long way from DC, and a great many were still enslaved even after the surrender of Confederate States in April of 1865. In an attempt to end the institution once and for all, Union General Gordon Granger and his men rode into Galveston, Texas on June 19, 1865 and read out an order enforcing the Emancipation Proclamation and declaring that all slaves in Texas were now free. His army was there to make sure of that. 

Churches in Texas have commemorated this date since 1866 and it is an official state holiday in Texas.  Its popularity spread from Texas across the south and now appears is 49 states.

This was not the end of slavery in America, however. Slavery was still legal in the border states until December 6th 1865 when the 13th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States was finally ratified, granting and guaranteeing full citizenship to former slaves. It would take a further century before a Civil Rights law was passed and, of course, that didn’t mean all was well. We still have a great deal of work to do. In the meantime, celebrate Juneteenth and pray for peace.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

That Uplifting Tweet You Just Shared? A Russian Troll Sent It

Image
Here’s what Russia’s 2020 disinformation operations look like, according to two experts on social media and propaganda. By   DARREN LINVILL   &   PATRICK WARREN Internet trolls don’t troll. Not the professionals at least. Professional trolls don’t go on social media to antagonize liberals or belittle conservatives. They are not narrow minded, drunk or angry. They don’t lack basic English language skills. They certainly aren’t  “somebody sitting on their bed that weighs 400 pounds,”  as the president once put it. Your stereotypical trolls do exist on social media, but the amateurs aren’t a threat to Western democracy. Professional trolls, on the other hand, are the tip of the spear in the new digital, ideological battleground. To combat the threat they pose, we must first understand them — and take them seriously. MORE: https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/russia-troll-2020-election-interference-twitter-916482/ P...
Read more

The Nightmare Scenario That Keeps Election Lawyers Up At Night -- And Could Hand Trump A Second Term

Image
The Nightmare Scenario That Keeps Election Lawyers Up At Night -- And Could Hand Trump A Second Term   (Photo: Photos: Getty Images) Americans will almost certainly go to bed on Nov. 3 without knowing who won the presidential election. Since millions of people will vote by mail, constraints on time and resources will slow ballot counting into potentially a weeks-long process. Voting patterns suggest it’s likely that President  Donald Trump  could end Election Day in the lead in certain key states, only to be overtaken by Democratic opponent  Joe Biden  when more votes are tallied.  This could create a nightmare scenario during the three months stretching from Election Day to the Jan. 20 inauguration: a battle on the state and congressional level over who is the legitimate winner. This could include Congress reconvening on Jan. 6, presided over by Vice President  Mike Pence , with no consensus over its potential role in choosing the next president. This...
Read more

When Life Hands You Lemons

Image
 It's like this folks: sometimes your mind goes blank. Happens more than usual with me of course. Take this forum for instance. I wanted to post something today and couldn't think of a topic. At least not a non-sexual one and we know sexual ones lately have been frowned upon.  Then along comes one of our regulars and complains about something. Well, they might not say it was a complaint, just an observation, but it was a complaint. A minor one. It has something to do about being able to make something out of nothing. Sort of like me this morning, how to make a thread out of an empty head? But they (notice I am using the correct pronoun, not saying he or she), by what they said got me thinking. What I thought was: Not sure if that is the actual saying, if I remember correctly, I remember the saying going something like this: Umm, no, I don't think the saying I am thinking of goes that way either, maybe ONE of you good folks can remind me how the saying goes. Either way, when...
Read more