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On Juneteenth, three stirring stories of how enslaved people gained their freedom
Retropolis
On Juneteenth, three stirring stories of how enslaved people gained their freedom
By Gillian Brockell
June 19, 2021 at 7:00 a.m. EDT
There was no one moment when freedom came to the enslaved in the United States. When President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, the clouds did not part, the sun did not shine beams of freedom, and the shackles of slavery locked for nearly 250 years did not magically fall away. ... And it doesn’t diminish Lincoln to acknowledge that.
“It’s a pretty entrenched story in our national memory that Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, and on Jan. 1, 1863, enslaved people were free,” says historian Amy Murrell Taylor. “We need to puncture a big hole in this national mythology — without diminishing Lincoln.”
[The joy of Juneteenth: America's long and uneven march from slavery to freedom]
The truth is much more complicated. Millions of Americans gained freedom from 1861 to 1865 in a slow-moving wave that includes the Emancipation Proclamation, Juneteenth and the passage of the 13th Amendment. There are millions of stories to tell.
{snip}
Many ran across Union lines and emancipated themselves, flooding into hastily constructed “contraband” camps. (Taylor calls them refugee camps.) Some brought family members and wagonloads of belongings, others were forced to choose between freedom and their children. For some, the Union line and its liberation came to them.
Some formerly enslaved people encountered sympathetic White soldiers and missionaries who helped them. Others were treated like vagrants or were handed over to be re-enslaved. Some gained freedom by enlisting in the Union Army and fighting the people who had enslaved them. Some states read the writing on the wall and abolished slavery by state action during the war; others dug in their heels and wouldn’t let go until the 13th Amendment forced them to months after the war was over.
{snip}
By Gillian Brockell
Gillian Brockell is a staff writer for The Washington Post's history blog, Retropolis. She has been at The Post since 2013 and previously worked as a video editor. Twitter https://twitter.com/gbrockell
On Juneteenth, three stirring stories of how enslaved people gained their freedom
By Gillian Brockell
June 19, 2021 at 7:00 a.m. EDT
There was no one moment when freedom came to the enslaved in the United States. When President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, the clouds did not part, the sun did not shine beams of freedom, and the shackles of slavery locked for nearly 250 years did not magically fall away. ... And it doesn’t diminish Lincoln to acknowledge that.
“It’s a pretty entrenched story in our national memory that Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, and on Jan. 1, 1863, enslaved people were free,” says historian Amy Murrell Taylor. “We need to puncture a big hole in this national mythology — without diminishing Lincoln.”
[The joy of Juneteenth: America's long and uneven march from slavery to freedom]
The truth is much more complicated. Millions of Americans gained freedom from 1861 to 1865 in a slow-moving wave that includes the Emancipation Proclamation, Juneteenth and the passage of the 13th Amendment. There are millions of stories to tell.
{snip}
Many ran across Union lines and emancipated themselves, flooding into hastily constructed “contraband” camps. (Taylor calls them refugee camps.) Some brought family members and wagonloads of belongings, others were forced to choose between freedom and their children. For some, the Union line and its liberation came to them.
Some formerly enslaved people encountered sympathetic White soldiers and missionaries who helped them. Others were treated like vagrants or were handed over to be re-enslaved. Some gained freedom by enlisting in the Union Army and fighting the people who had enslaved them. Some states read the writing on the wall and abolished slavery by state action during the war; others dug in their heels and wouldn’t let go until the 13th Amendment forced them to months after the war was over.
{snip}
By Gillian Brockell
Gillian Brockell is a staff writer for The Washington Post's history blog, Retropolis. She has been at The Post since 2013 and previously worked as a video editor. Twitter https://twitter.com/gbrockell
There was this comment:
BamaGirl1 2 hours ago
This was excellent reporting about history we should know. I’m here to suggest another potential WaPo story—on the history of the hymn ‘Lift Every Voice and Sing’. The wonderful choral arranger and conductor Roland M. Carter is still alive. His beautiful setting of this hymn features all 3 verses in such a way that it can’t be truncated to just the first verse.
You can see a beautiful performance of ‘Lift Every Voice and Sing’ at {YouTube}. Elsewhere there is a YouTube interview with Dr. Carter explaining his arrangement and the selection of the hymn by the NAACP 100 years ago as a traditional anthem. My favorite verse is the 3rd verse, which ends, “True to our God, True to our native land.”
This was excellent reporting about history we should know. I’m here to suggest another potential WaPo story—on the history of the hymn ‘Lift Every Voice and Sing’. The wonderful choral arranger and conductor Roland M. Carter is still alive. His beautiful setting of this hymn features all 3 verses in such a way that it can’t be truncated to just the first verse.
You can see a beautiful performance of ‘Lift Every Voice and Sing’ at {YouTube}. Elsewhere there is a YouTube interview with Dr. Carter explaining his arrangement and the selection of the hymn by the NAACP 100 years ago as a traditional anthem. My favorite verse is the 3rd verse, which ends, “True to our God, True to our native land.”