(Just about everyone knows that my parents were both Southerners and white. I couldn’t hide the fact if I tried. My dad was from the Birmingham-northern Alabama area and my mom was from Atlanta, GA although she just happened to be born in Jacksonville, FL. My sibling and I were both hatched in downtown Atlanta, but that was a product of our mother deciding to use a hospital there for the occasions. We were raised in Red Oak, GA quite literally on the wrong side of the railroad tracks according to most of the world, but we never knew it. It did make understanding a little bit more of our fellow citizens a little easier though.)
On June 19th, 1865, Union soldiers rode into Galveston, TX, a small town on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. There they found Black people still living and working for the white people who considered them to be chattel property (i.e. slaves). They delivered the now two-year-old news that President Lincoln had issued the Emancipation Proclamation which had freed all slaves. They had never gotten the news that they were supposed to be free men and women.
Since that time, Black people throughout the South have celebrated their freedom in their own ways and on different days depending on when the news reached their particular area. It might be in May, June, or September, but it was pretty limited in scope to local people and families. It might start with the beating of drums (a fairly common way of alerting people that something important was happening that the community at large needed to know about in a hurry) and they would gather at a pre-arranged place such as a crossroads, church, or store to hear the tidings. In this case, it would be to gather for a celebratory praise service followed by a feast and dancing at a specified time and place.
In today’s world, it has expanded to become a worldwide celebration and, since Joe Biden took office in January 2021, a federal holiday here in the United States. I have no argument with that since I, too, believe it should be celebrated by one and all. (Maybe one of these days we’ll have true equity and freedom in this country. We keep fighting.) I’m just a little hesitant about the whole holiday part since that will mean it will get commercialized and trivialized to some extent, but that’s not my call. (I’m going to kick my soap box on that subject back in the closet and keep it there for the time being.)
People who know me well will vouch for the fact that inequity of any type does more than just ruffle my feathers. It gets my dander up and I start looking for ways to “fix” the problem. I don’t necessarily want to fight, although I will if that’s what it takes. I prefer to do the work to make things fair so that the inequity just won’t happen again. If that means somebody is, well, not amused, not my problem. It’s their problem they weren’t raised correctly. I paid attention in Sunday School. Maybe they didn’t.
Maybe I have a very simplistic view of society. I don’t think so, but I’m like most people. I think I’m correct on most things. I believe in one race. The human race. It just happens to be like ice cream-vanilla, chocolate, fudge, butter pecan, pistachio, black walnut, lemon, orange dream, and all the rest. Just like ice cream, I enjoy the varieties. Having the same thing all the time would be so boring. I’ve sampled different cultures in many places and I have found my world so enriched for having done so.
I celebrate Juneteenth for its glorious meaning and for the hope it contains. Let’s beat some drums, have a feast, and dance like nobody is watching. Let’s have some joy in our lives.
I’m running for the Georgia State Senate D29 in November. If you feel it in your heart to support me, click on that button below or use the snail mail address to my PO Box is available below. Please visit the rest of my website to get a fuller idea of what I am about. wright4georgia.com .
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P.O. Box 3816, LaGrange, GA 30241 http://www.wright4georgia.com ellen@wright4georiga.com
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