General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsJuneteenth!
Best to all who celebrate it. We all should.
A chance to learn from the past and renew vows that history doesn't have to repeat itself.
floriduck
(2,262 posts)Ned_Devine
(3,146 posts)xfundy
(5,105 posts)I'm not aware of the date emancipation actually happened, and since the people were denied education and communication, I believe they learned of it later. Also, having been denied basic education, they wouldn't know numbers and how to pronounce them, except through hearing snatches of others' words and passing them on.
The slaveholders certainly didn't want them to know they were freed.
So today is a wonderful day worth celebrating.
Ned_Devine
(3,146 posts)Have you ever read the book "Lies My Teacher Told Me"? It's fantastic. The fact that I didn't know this date was a reminder of the fact that our history textbooks are "white"washed
mcar
(42,300 posts)MerryBlooms
(11,761 posts)[URL=.html][IMG][/IMG][/URL]
http://www.juneteenth.com/history.htm
xfundy
(5,105 posts)My understanding of this historic day is limited, as I've already illustrated. This link should fill in many, many blanks.
Everyone should know this history, not just those whose ancestors were affected by it. Every American kid should be taught this in school.
I learned who Harriet Tubman was in school-- "conductor" on the underground railroad. Isn't she also the lady who was hit in the head with an iron that left an indentation? Her, MLK, Booker T. Washington, George Washington Carver (and peanuts), Frederick Douglass... and that's about all the POC I learned about in school, and some of that may have been from independent reading on my part. And that was a looooong time ago, and I don't think today's kids learn even a fraction of what I was taught.
I don't think I was taught much of anything about Hispanic POC. That's fucking crazy.
xfundy
(5,105 posts)I'm ignorant in many things. But at least I'm trying to learn.
appalachiablue
(41,123 posts)underpants
(182,763 posts)Powers been out here since Thursday.
xfundy
(5,105 posts)Or flooding, like in Texas? Hope you're doing better, keeping cool and have enough to eat.
underpants
(182,763 posts)It just came back on 10 minutes ago. 71 hours.
Surya Gayatri
(15,445 posts)Shameful...this historical blackout speaks loudly of white bias and privilege.
xfundy
(5,105 posts)And a giant lesson to learn. This doesn't just happen to the uneducated, it happens to everyone. The "boss" is not our friend.