And by virtue of the power, and for the purpose aforesaid, 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; and that the Executive government of the United States, including the military and naval authorities thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of said persons.This story is a living story. There is more to this than just the mistreatment of others. This is not History to be put aside when the book is read, it has a ripple effect that goes deeper than the attempt to make Juneteenth a national holiday.
Juneteenth is the oldest known celebration commemorating the ending of slavery in the United States. Dating back to 1865, it was on June 19th that the Union soldiers, led by Major General Gordon Granger, landed at Galveston, Texas with news that the war had ended and that the enslaved were now free. Note that this was two and a half years after President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation - which had become official January 1, 1863. [...]
Later attempts to explain this two and a half year delay in the receipt of this important news have yielded several versions that have been handed down through the years. Often told is the story of a messenger who was murdered on his way to Texas with the news of freedom. Another, is that the news was deliberately withheld by the enslavers to maintain the labor force on the plantations. And still another, is that federal troops actually waited for the slave owners to reap the benefits of one last cotton harvest before going to Texas to enforce the Emancipation Proclamation.
The organization devoted to making Juneteenth a recognized holiday will have an event tomorrow in Washington DC and they have invited Speaker of the House John Boehner to attend. This is Important.
When the House convened this year the members read the Constitution. This grandstanding was silly and tolerable until they decided to omit the icky parts. Like the "Three Fifths" Clause.
More on this follows...
