Juneteenth Is for Everyone!

 On This Historic Day...

I would like to formally welcome our nation's newest Federal National Holiday.

Also, I'd like to say:  It's about damn time!

Juneteenth--the celebration commemorating the full emancipation of the slaves in the last Confederate holdout state of Texas--originated in Galveston on June 19th, 1965, with the reading of General Order No. 3 by Union General Gordon Granger.  Celebrations of Juneteenth date to at least 1866, with local church-based gatherings (because white people refused to allow Black people to celebrate anywhere else);  from these, the holiday has spread across the nation--first through the South, then to the North--and has grown into a celebration not only of Black Independence, but also of Black culture and food.  It has even made its way to Mexico, courtesy of the Mascogos, descendants of a group of Black Seminoles who escaped slavery in 1852 and settled in Coahuila.

All this is more or less regurgitated Wiki.  But this lowly worm would like to advance the radical notion that Juneteenth is not just a "Black holiday."  This holiday is for everyone!

Okay, before anyone gets mad...

No person is an island.  We all need each other.  And back in the Bad Old Days, when a Black individual was considered 3/5 of a person for census purposes, there was a group of allies who shone brightly in those dark times.

I speak, of course, of the Religious Society of Friends, better-known as the Quakers.  Among other things, they were the most vocal of the Abolitionists.  This was no accident, nor was it a stance of convenience;  the Society's founder, George Fox, claimed to have received a direct revelation from God that slavery was wrong, and that Fox should spread this word to others.  However my readers may feel about people who claim to have heard the voice of God,  I would have to say that in this case, Fox did hear rightly.  His obedience, and that of other members of the Society, led to the publishing of much anti-slavery literature, petitions to various levels of government (local to [post-Revolutionary] federal) for an end to slavery in the nation, and the founding of the escape network widely known as the Underground Railroad.

Efforts such as these contributed to the attitudes of other Abolitionist groups and individuals, such as Harriet Beecher Stowe, whose novel Uncle Tom's Cabin sold some 300,000 hardback copies in the United States alone.  The novel raised the debate about slavery to such a pitch that President Abraham Lincoln, upon meeting Mrs. Stowe, referred to her as the "little woman" whose book had caused a "big war"--meaning, of course, the Civil War.

Meanwhile, down on the plantation...

...The slaves were freeing themselves!

They ran away from their so-called "masters" and headed North, where they built new lives and told their stories, which were published and spread by Abolitionists.  Some of them became "conductors" on the Underground Railroad, returning to the South to help free more of their people from slavery.  The most famous of these was, of course, Harriet Tubman, who never lost a "passenger" and has been lionized in stories and (finally) a major motion picture.  My favorite book about her was one I read as a kid called Harriet Tubman:  The Moses of Her People.

Now, the slaveholding South believed that whites were inherently superior to Blacks, and that slavery was the "natural state" of the Black person.  But you couldn't prove that by the actions of Black people, who were not only escaping to the North, but also rebelling in ways large and small.  The best-known rebellion was that of Nat Turner, who led an uprising of over 70 Black people, both slave and free, who killed 55 whites before the revolt was shut down by white militia forces.  (An interesting side note:  This rebellion almost led to a gradual emancipation.  Nat Turner's confession was published as a book, and some white folks in Virginia, reminded of the dangers of slavery, presented petitions that would gradually end slavery.  But the majority, not wanting to lose their slaves, ixnayed that.)

People who want to be free and are willing to risk their lives to get that freedom are not "natural slaves."  That this was finally recognized and fought for by allies and others does not diminish the spirit of the Blacks who escaped and rebelled;  it affirms that their spirit is strong and true.

This, fellow worms, is called facing reality.

The culmination of all that blood, sweat and tears was a set of Constitutional Amendments.

Amendments don't pass by themselves, you know!

The 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the Constitution--known as the Reconstruction Amendments--were passed by the required 2/3 majority of Congress in 1865 (the 13th, which freed the slaves; the Civil War wasn't even over yet), 1866 (the 14th, to counter white southern opposition to the 13th), and 1869 (the 15th, which was passed to counter--you guessed it--racist opposition to Black voting rights).

But remember, that's only part of the process.  After their passage, the amendments had to be ratified by a whopping 3/4 of the states.  The miracle is that it not only happened, but happened quickly:  The 13th Amendment took only 10 months and 6 days to get that majority;  the 14th, 2 years and 26 days;  and the 15th, 11 months and 8 days!  In fact, by 1871, 31 out of the 37 states had fully ratified the 14th and 15th Amendments.  There were 11 original members of the Confederacy, so that means that five of those ratifying states were originally rebels to the Union.

It wasn't only the Black vote that achieved that.  It was good white allies, many of whom were probably involved in the Abolitionist movement before the war;  but that vote probably also included a number of white people who were just plain ashamed of themselves.  Shame may be a poor reason for doing the right thing, but it sure beats doing the wrong thing because of cowardice.

What I am not saying...

There has been a lot of talk in recent years about the "white savior" factor.  Movies such as Driving Miss Daisy, The Help, Hidden Figures, and most recently Green Book, have been strongly criticized for their portrayal of helpless Black people who needed the help of whites to get the respect and credit they deserve from society.

When I say that Juneteenth is for everybody, I am not saying that "if it weren't for white people, Black people would never have won their freedom."  No, what I'm saying is that bringing this holiday into the full view of all Americans gives every one of us the chance to learn some history and celebrate together...and declare our commitment to doing better by each other than our ancestors have done.

In Conclusion...

If you are invited to a Juneteenth celebration, or there is a Juneteenth street fair in your area, by all means, go.  See some great art, hear some great music, eat some great food.  Listen to the readings, be humble, and definitely be sure you know all the words to "Lift Every Voice And Sing."

We've been backsliding, children.  Time to repent and move forward.

Happy Juneteenth, everyone!