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Posts Tagged ‘Juneteenth’

Freedom for Us All

Posted in Holidays, tagged , , , , , , , on June 19, 2024| 1 Comment »

Happy Juneteenth, fellow Americans! 

I do love a holiday, and I’ve written about this one before: Our Newest Federal Holiday.

I grew up in a predominantly white region on the East Coast, and Juneteenth wasn’t part of my experience. I’m happy to celebrate it now.

Wondering how? Check out this introduction: The beginner’s guide to celebrating Juneteenth

And this is a rerun from the excellent Now I Know, but it’s just as good the second time around.

Freed But Not Free

“We have concluded to test your sincerity by asking you to send us our wages for the time we served you. This will make us forget and forgive old scores, and rely on your justice and friendship in the future. I served you faithfully for thirty-two years and Mandy [his wife] twenty years. At $25 a month for me, and $2 a week for Mandy, our earnings would amount to $11,680.” (In today’s dollars, that’s about $175,000.)

Would you like to know more? 

Juneteenth | National Museum of African American History and Culture

“If you’re going to hold someone down you’re going to have to hold on by the other end of the chain. You are confined by your own repression.” 

— Toni Morrison

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courtesy of  the Juneteenth Digital Toolkit | National Museum of African American History and Culture

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Our Newest Federal Holiday

Posted in Holidays, tagged , , , on June 19, 2023| 2 Comments »

Today, America celebrates Juneteenth.

I’ve written about this new federal holiday before, but if you’d like to know more, here are a couple of articles which may interest you:

Juneteenth: What It Is And How It Is Observed – NPR

“Everybody went wild. We all felt like heroes … just like that, we were free.”

For even more detail, check out this longer read by historian Henry Louis Gates, Jr.: What Is Juneteenth?

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In a more personal take on history, I’ve always wondered how it must feel to be one of the many Black people in the US who are intimately related to the nation’s Confederate past.

I need wonder no more.

A favorite aunt was going through boxes of material from my grandmother and discovered discharge papers for a Confederate soldier, who also happens to be my great great grandfather.

Oh.

While I was quite surprised at this (and other new family history, ranging from the darker side of Georgia to the darker side of Germany), in some important ways it really is encouraging. 

History is change, and much of this story is positive.

Still, I’m not going to lie. It feels a little weird. But again, encouraging.

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National Archives

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Happy Juneteenth, America!

Posted in Holidays, tagged , , , , on June 19, 2021| 2 Comments »

We’ve taken a lot of steps to be where we are now. The Emancipation Proclamation, issued in 1863 and announced, finally, on June 19, 1865 in Galveston, Texas, was a big one.

Is everything perfect? Of course not. But our path is clear and the goal is righteous. This is a good next step.

Happy Juneteenth, America!*

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Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to change the world.

— Harriet Tubman

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Photo by Casey Horner on Unsplash

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* Is this only a Black American thing? Nope, it’s a “let’s all celebrate a better world” thing:)

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