Last year, President Joe Biden signed a bill making Juneteenth one of 12 federal holidays. The sad reality is that many Americans have never really learned about the holiday because in most American classrooms Juneteenth is never taught. Many K-12 educational curriculums ignore, refuse, or lightly refer to slavery and its devastating and damaging effect on Black people.
Slavery existed in this country for over 250 years and we have only experienced freedom for about 150 years. President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, which declared that all persons held as slaves shall be free.
The Proclamation allowed Black men into military service and almost 200,000 Black soldiers fought for the Union. Unfortunately, it would take two additional years before that proclamation would become reality for the enslaved who were in states under Confederate control.
Some enslaved places and people did not receive word of their freedom until June 19, 1865, when 2,000 Union troops under the command of Major General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas on June 19, 1865. This was the final place to be notified, proclaiming that the 250,000 Black Americans enslaved in Texas were finally free because slavery had been abolished.
We need more of our schools to make the effort to instruct students about Juneteenth as well as the country’s legacy of slavery. Many politicians are actively fighting against any curriculum that deals with slavery, racism, or parts of American history that make white people uncomfortable.
The 13th Amendment may have legally put an end to slavery, but it did not put an end to racial oppression. The chains and shackles have been removed but they have been replaced by the income gap, the wealth gap, and the education gap between Black and white America. Some of the challenges we still face today are issues dealing with health care, affordable housing, attack on voting rights and police brutality.
My paternal family is from East Texas and Juneteenth has been celebrated and mentioned over the years as something we need to acknowledge and pass down through the generations. I am a family historian and so I have felt it is part of my mission or job to keep this legacy alive in our family and our community.
We must make it personal to keep our history alive and continue to pass it down to future generations, even if they refuse to teach it in our schools.
This coming Monday for Juneteenth, the nonprofit Forgiving For Living, Inc., will partner with the Black Business Association, and Comerica Bank with a virtual presentation on the history of Juneteenth and the importance of us sharing our stories.
Our theme will be, “Living and Doing Business in the Land of the Free.” The question we must ask ourselves is are we truly free and emancipated and what have we done with our freedom.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” To make this a reality we must be willing to take a stand for equality, justice, and human rights.
We must take a stand and not take a seat when it comes to fighting for justice and not get weary in well doing when it comes to fighting for civil rights that our ancestors fought and died for. Happy Juneteenth!
Healing Without Hate: It’s a choice. It’s a lifestyle. Pass it on.
Visit www.WendyGladney.com and www.forgivingforliving.org to learn more. Wendy is a life strategist, coach, consultant, author, and speaker.
