Free, but not really. Not now, and not all of you.
Juneteenth is often known by Freedom Day or Emancipation Day, or the black Fourth of July.
By now the history of Juneteenth is well-known but bears repeating. On June 19, 1865, as Juneteenth.com explains, “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. This was two and a half years after President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation - which had become official January 1, 1863. The Emancipation Proclamation had little impact on the Texans due to the minimal number of Union troops to enforce the new Executive Order.”
On the face Juneteenth is a day of celebration — no one walking through Wheeler Park would’ve imagined otherwise — but at heart it is a story of the lag between what the U.S. Constitution says and the actual situation on the ground for black people.
Nor did the Emancipation Proclamation didn’t free every slave, but just the slaves in confederate states. Not all of you, and not now.
Ann Arbor celebrated Juneteenth 2011 on June 18 at Wheeler Park on the north side of town. The NAACP has put on a local Juneteenth celebration since 1994 as a way to connect and laugh and eat.
Pastor Dominique Atchison of the Amistad Community United Church of Christ sang a moving rendition of Whitney Houston’s “One Moment in Time.” Atchison leads a multiracial but Afro-centric congregation that meets at the Canterbury House (721 East Huron)
Amistad is a part of the United Church of Christ, which was founded by Rev. Jeremiah Wright, President Barack Obama’s onetime pastor and spiritual advisor. Wright’s remarks on 9/11 were controversial and during the 2008 campaign then-Senator Obama distanced himself from Wright. ]
Pastor Atchison did not. She described the small church as “Glenn Beck’s worst nightmare.”
“We’re proud of our history,” she said.
William Hampton, head of the local NAACP, said that as a boy growing up in Texas, Juneteenth was second only to Christmas when he was growing up in Texas. Michigan never had slavery but the contradiction between black-letter law and reality still resonates.
“This was our Fourth of July,” Hampton said. "After Christmas it was my favorite. Better than my birthday."
Douglas C. Kelley, curator of the Democratic Archive, and a noted collector of Democratic Party artifacts, was out taking $1 donations for party-themed pins and buttons. He wore a yellow NAACP hat bearing the words “Lift Every Voice and Vote.” 2011 represented only the third Juneteenth in history with a black U.S. president. That wouldn't have been possible if people hadn't shown up at the polls.
"Recall Rick" was Peggy Rabhi's mission. Rabhi, mother of county commissioner Yousef Rabhi, came out in a white Recall Rick t-shirt to gather signatures for separate petitions to recall Gov. Rick Snyder and to repeal Public Act 4 of 2011, which gives governor-appointed emergency managers broad powers to tear up contracts and dissolve local governments.
“We have our boys overseas fighting for democracy in Iraq when they’re taking away from our democracy at home,” she said.
If the history of Juneteenth teaches no other lesson, it teaches how fragile rights can be and the importance of political power.
Juneteenth is often known by Freedom Day or Emancipation Day, or the black Fourth of July.
By now the history of Juneteenth is well-known but bears repeating. On June 19, 1865, as Juneteenth.com explains, “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. This was two and a half years after President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation - which had become official January 1, 1863. The Emancipation Proclamation had little impact on the Texans due to the minimal number of Union troops to enforce the new Executive Order.”
On the face Juneteenth is a day of celebration — no one walking through Wheeler Park would’ve imagined otherwise — but at heart it is a story of the lag between what the U.S. Constitution says and the actual situation on the ground for black people.
Nor did the Emancipation Proclamation didn’t free every slave, but just the slaves in confederate states. Not all of you, and not now.
Ann Arbor celebrated Juneteenth 2011 on June 18 at Wheeler Park on the north side of town. The NAACP has put on a local Juneteenth celebration since 1994 as a way to connect and laugh and eat.
Pastor Dominique Atchison of the Amistad Community United Church of Christ sang a moving rendition of Whitney Houston’s “One Moment in Time.” Atchison leads a multiracial but Afro-centric congregation that meets at the Canterbury House (721 East Huron)
Amistad is a part of the United Church of Christ, which was founded by Rev. Jeremiah Wright, President Barack Obama’s onetime pastor and spiritual advisor. Wright’s remarks on 9/11 were controversial and during the 2008 campaign then-Senator Obama distanced himself from Wright. ]
Pastor Atchison did not. She described the small church as “Glenn Beck’s worst nightmare.”
“We’re proud of our history,” she said.
“This was our Fourth of July,” Hampton said. "After Christmas it was my favorite. Better than my birthday."
Douglas C. Kelley, curator of the Democratic Archive, and a noted collector of Democratic Party artifacts, was out taking $1 donations for party-themed pins and buttons. He wore a yellow NAACP hat bearing the words “Lift Every Voice and Vote.” 2011 represented only the third Juneteenth in history with a black U.S. president. That wouldn't have been possible if people hadn't shown up at the polls.
"Recall Rick" was Peggy Rabhi's mission. Rabhi, mother of county commissioner Yousef Rabhi, came out in a white Recall Rick t-shirt to gather signatures for separate petitions to recall Gov. Rick Snyder and to repeal Public Act 4 of 2011, which gives governor-appointed emergency managers broad powers to tear up contracts and dissolve local governments.
“We have our boys overseas fighting for democracy in Iraq when they’re taking away from our democracy at home,” she said.
If the history of Juneteenth teaches no other lesson, it teaches how fragile rights can be and the importance of political power.
