Juneteenth

Juneteenth honors the day when federal troops officially took control of Texas. Months after the surrender of General Lee at Appomattox and the assassination of President Lincoln, the Civil War was basically over by that point. But, under the dictates of the Emancipation Proclamation, official military control of Texas meant the permanent freedom of the slaves that lived there.

I wrote that in a a blog on the "strengths and weaknesses of the Emancipation Proclamation." Juneteeth is not a state and federal holiday, which is observed this year (as seem by the Supreme Court not handing down orders and opinions until Tuesday) tomorrow. 

It first took place 6/19/1865.  The original day is based on the way the Emancipation Proclamation (1/1/63) worked.  Freedom followed the marching Union Army.  When an area of the Confederacy (it was a war measure, so did not applied to loyal border states or areas already in Union control) fell, the freedom promised become official. Texas was the finale, the end of the line of the Confederacy, surrendering the end of May/the beginning of June.  Things were delayed a bit further apparently here.

The day obtained wider meaning.  As President Biden notes:

Juneteenth is a day to reflect on both bondage and freedom — a day of both pain and purpose. 

It is rather fitting and proper that the day became an official holiday last year.  Racism is by far not over and the last administration was in large part advanced by and advanced it.  Racists were key players the 1/6 insurrection and recently were caught trying to attack a Pride Event.  Biden again:

I call upon the people of the United States to acknowledge and condemn the history of slavery in our Nation and recognize how the impact of America’s original sin remains.  I call on every American to celebrate the emancipation of all Black Americans and commit together to eradicate systemic racism and inequity that can never be tolerated and must always be fought against.

Ralph Ellison, the author of The Invisible Man,  long struggled over an unfinished novel, which was posthumously at first published in a shortened from with the title Juneteenth.  I have not read it, but it helped the movement to push for a national holiday.  The book later was expanded into a much longer work.  

I have re-read for a second time at least the posthumously published book The Slaveholding Republic, started by the author of a seminal volume on the Dred Scott Case. The basic premise (which I share) is that the Constitution itself is not inherently a slavery document, but the felt exigencies of antebellum American history and government did make the U.S. a slaveholding republic.  

There was always, a dissenting voice, that grew over time.  The book is not fully comprehensive (things like the black seaman controversies are not covered), but it does cover a lot of ground and is very good.  It makes sense that the author finished a leading historian's Civil War masterpiece and now someone finished his.  

The book was finished in 2001, and ends with the statement  that the legacy of the slaveholding republic "promises to continue well into the future."  From my vantage point, that does seem true twenty years later, including the part where there is a "state of unease and mutual distrust."  And, our Constitution continues to be applied in ways not necessarily compelled, if much more possible given the text and the history arising from it.  

We have a long haul, and unlike Lincoln, I do not think providence necessarily is directing out movements.  Days like this helps us remember and honor.  We have a ways to go, but as in the past, there are grounds of hope and good things happening.  

Anyway, I'm hearing birds again.