JUNETEENTH (19 June, 1865) credit-ref to "ads by Google" JUNETEENTH’s our celebration of history, but is historically incorrect.
I am writing in regards to the Juneteenth. Last year, I found that our local news reporting quite interesting but somewhat historically inaccurate. The need to celebrate Juneteenth (June19, 1865) is aspiring and is a great thing for Americans of African ancestry and America as a whole but it need not be whitewashed or embellished with inaccuracies.
As for the facts behind Juneteenth.
Folks who helped sponsor the event in our area reported that Juneteenth was a celebration of the end of slavery by way of President Lincolns Emancipation Proclamation. This is historically incorrect and not fact.
Juneteenth occurred on June 19, 1865 in the state of Texas. This is when the slaves of Texas received news that the war had ended and slavery was going to be abolished. (13th Adm had not been signed). Up until that time it was still the law of the land. Slavery was not abolished by law until December 1865 with the passage of the 13th amendment although it was in the hands of congress from 1862 and during the later stages of 1865 while the war was still raging, congress took no action. Some states such as West Virginia did not ratify it until February 1866. Then still another amendment, the 14th, had to be passed to allow them the right that every American has and that is to vote.
President Lincoln’s proclamation was originally crafted in late 1862 and revised in January 1863, but he needed a platform or victory to announce it formally. It had been issued prior to that but the impact was not felt until late 1863. It was a political and military stroke of genius but in reality it failed to free any slaves. Fact the only slaves freed during this time were those on Washington City in 1862. The owners were given payment for thier loss.
Lincoln’s time came with victories in Vicksburg and Gettysburg. Without those victories and had Lincoln’s proclamation, it would have had no substance and would appear to be that of a nation in direr straights. In November of 1863, during the dedication of the Gettysburg National Cemetery, Lincoln makes his famous Gettysburg Address and during that time people sometimes recognize as the time the emancipation was formally announced. Fact is, it was issued effective Jan, 1863 when officially announced.
The facts behind the Emancipation were that it only freed slaves in the states currently in rebellion. That is the Confederate States of America. No slave states in the union (West Virginia, Delaware, Maryland or other Union lands) were mentioned. There were also several large areas in the Confederacy (i.e. counties in Virginia, all of West Virginia and New Orleans and areas there) that were exempt from the emancipation.
No other slaves were freed at anytime during the war and the proclamation did little from that standpoint but was a great political tool in the form of keeping England, France and Russia from supporting the Confederacy.
Lincoln is remembered as the great emancipator but as the war started his concern was that of saving the republic and not of abolishing slavery unless it also could save the nation. Although his personal writings reflect his personal discuss for slavery, his political feelings were that of the nation and its feelings. After all, slavery was the law of the land. It was not illegal or considered immoral to own another man.
This was a war which started over the argument of States Rights and Taxes.
The slavery issue was there but not the culminating factor until much later in the war. The union refused to recruit or allow for blacks to volunteer for federal service until in 1863. Even then blacks were segregate, treated with mistrust and for sometime not paid. While in the Confederate blacks were used as servants, bodyguards, teamsters while a small handful even fought for the south. The reasons vary but some former “Black Confederates” even received pensions after the war. Even freedmen who themselves owned slaves, supported the Confederacy.
Truly, this was a confusing time. A true understanding of the war and its elements is not taught in a modern day history class, as to give the student a real understanding and feeling of what these Americans went through.
Slavery was a horrific institution. The ending should be celebrated but the truth also needs to be celebrated. Freedom came with a price. Americans of African decent were often shunned and had their rights trampled on by both the former Confederate States but more surprising by Union states. After the war they were set adrift without any teaching or preparation for freedom. Many in the former union states who some say fought for the Negros freedom, hated them. Reconstruction and the death of Lincoln destroyed any chance for the Americans of African decent to bend in to American society for almost another 100 years. The reality was that before, during and after the war, many northerners who wanted freedom and equality for Negros wanted nothing to do with the struggle it would take to give them that.
We have failed our children. When we teach history and black history, but our children are not taught about Fredrick Douglass, Robert Smalls, Elizabeth Freedman or other great blacks of the Civil War era and before. Our kids have no idea what the 13th and 14th amendment mean. We need to teach history as it was and not as it is taught now. (Revisionist).
I am writing in regards to the Juneteenth. Last year, I found that our local news reporting quite interesting but somewhat historically inaccurate. The need to celebrate Juneteenth (June19, 1865) is aspiring and is a great thing for Americans of African ancestry and America as a whole but it need not be whitewashed or embellished with inaccuracies.
As for the facts behind Juneteenth.
Folks who helped sponsor the event in our area reported that Juneteenth was a celebration of the end of slavery by way of President Lincolns Emancipation Proclamation. This is historically incorrect and not fact.
Juneteenth occurred on June 19, 1865 in the state of Texas. This is when the slaves of Texas received news that the war had ended and slavery was going to be abolished. (13th Adm had not been signed). Up until that time it was still the law of the land. Slavery was not abolished by law until December 1865 with the passage of the 13th amendment although it was in the hands of congress from 1862 and during the later stages of 1865 while the war was still raging, congress took no action. Some states such as West Virginia did not ratify it until February 1866. Then still another amendment, the 14th, had to be passed to allow them the right that every American has and that is to vote.
President Lincoln’s proclamation was originally crafted in late 1862 and revised in January 1863, but he needed a platform or victory to announce it formally. It had been issued prior to that but the impact was not felt until late 1863. It was a political and military stroke of genius but in reality it failed to free any slaves. Fact the only slaves freed during this time were those on Washington City in 1862. The owners were given payment for thier loss.
Lincoln’s time came with victories in Vicksburg and Gettysburg. Without those victories and had Lincoln’s proclamation, it would have had no substance and would appear to be that of a nation in direr straights. In November of 1863, during the dedication of the Gettysburg National Cemetery, Lincoln makes his famous Gettysburg Address and during that time people sometimes recognize as the time the emancipation was formally announced. Fact is, it was issued effective Jan, 1863 when officially announced.
The facts behind the Emancipation were that it only freed slaves in the states currently in rebellion. That is the Confederate States of America. No slave states in the union (West Virginia, Delaware, Maryland or other Union lands) were mentioned. There were also several large areas in the Confederacy (i.e. counties in Virginia, all of West Virginia and New Orleans and areas there) that were exempt from the emancipation.
No other slaves were freed at anytime during the war and the proclamation did little from that standpoint but was a great political tool in the form of keeping England, France and Russia from supporting the Confederacy.
Lincoln is remembered as the great emancipator but as the war started his concern was that of saving the republic and not of abolishing slavery unless it also could save the nation. Although his personal writings reflect his personal discuss for slavery, his political feelings were that of the nation and its feelings. After all, slavery was the law of the land. It was not illegal or considered immoral to own another man.
This was a war which started over the argument of States Rights and Taxes.
The slavery issue was there but not the culminating factor until much later in the war. The union refused to recruit or allow for blacks to volunteer for federal service until in 1863. Even then blacks were segregate, treated with mistrust and for sometime not paid. While in the Confederate blacks were used as servants, bodyguards, teamsters while a small handful even fought for the south. The reasons vary but some former “Black Confederates” even received pensions after the war. Even freedmen who themselves owned slaves, supported the Confederacy.
Truly, this was a confusing time. A true understanding of the war and its elements is not taught in a modern day history class, as to give the student a real understanding and feeling of what these Americans went through.
Slavery was a horrific institution. The ending should be celebrated but the truth also needs to be celebrated. Freedom came with a price. Americans of African decent were often shunned and had their rights trampled on by both the former Confederate States but more surprising by Union states. After the war they were set adrift without any teaching or preparation for freedom. Many in the former union states who some say fought for the Negros freedom, hated them. Reconstruction and the death of Lincoln destroyed any chance for the Americans of African decent to bend in to American society for almost another 100 years. The reality was that before, during and after the war, many northerners who wanted freedom and equality for Negros wanted nothing to do with the struggle it would take to give them that.
We have failed our children. When we teach history and black history, but our children are not taught about Fredrick Douglass, Robert Smalls, Elizabeth Freedman or other great blacks of the Civil War era and before. Our kids have no idea what the 13th and 14th amendment mean. We need to teach history as it was and not as it is taught now. (Revisionist).
Our media along with us need to assimilate history and truth from a journalistic and news forum standpoint and I hope that you will use this information that I have provided. Please feel free to contact our groups at anytime.
http://www.dixieresearch.com/
Echoes Through Time Civil War Museum and learning center
As seen on WGRZ's Daybreak
“Echoes Through Time”
C/o Program Director
PO Box 1333 / Buffalo, NY 14220
C/o Program Director
PO Box 1333 / Buffalo, NY 14220
(716) 870-0174
Program Director
director @ echoesthroughtime . com
director @ echoesthroughtime . com
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The E.P. credit the history blog
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