Delayed Freedom: Juneteenth and Beyond

Today we observe Juneteenth, the day ALL African Americans were emancipated from the shackles of slavery.

President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1^st, 1863; however, this was ignored in Texas, where geographical proximity and laws prohibiting enslaved people from being literate allowed owners to ignore it for 2 and a half years. It wasn’t until the Union Army was able to arrive and announce their freedom that plantation owners were forced to follow the decree. Even then, some plantation owners chose to ignore it, leading to the senseless deaths of those exercising their right to be free.

Unfortunately, this day did not bring the freedom to the former enslaved and African Americans in this country that they were and are promised in the Declaration of Independence and again through the Emancipation Proclamation.

In December 1865, the 13^th Amendment was ratified, abolishing slavery. But due to murky language, people found loopholes to continue enforcing indentured servitude and other slavery practices legally.

The continued practice of diminishing African American’s rights brought in during the Reconstruction Era, followed by the Jim Crow Era. A backlash to the 13^th Amendment that ushered in legal segregation, a law prohibiting interracial marriage, and voting laws that created poll taxes, introduced literacy tests, and other things to disallow black people from voting.

These practices (and many others not listed) became the cultural ‘norm’ designed to keep the spirit of Slavery alive in this country, now enforced by violence and the threat of violent acts.

Where the Past Still Shows Up Today

There are many ways that, even in modern society, these prejudiced beliefs still continue to show up. We compiled the list below to share a small window into how modern systems and colloquial phrases remind and reinforce the idea of not all being created equal:

• Cost of Universities and Colleges

  • Costs were driven up to dissuade minority communities from being able to attend.

• Credit Checking

  • This practice was created to ensure African Americans were unable to buy property; they were at a disadvantage of laws created in the Jim Crow Era that did not give them the same opportunities to accumulate savings allowing purchase of a home.

• Tipping Culture

  • After the 13^th Amendment, many people wanted to continue to earn money off the backs of African Americans, but didn’t want to pay a fair wage; as a result, they encouraged tipping as a way to ‘pay’ their employees

• Police Patrols

  • The modern police force began as ‘slave catchers’.

• Prison Labor

  • This practice still exists today, where you see incarcerated folks being paid very little if at all for hard labor.

• Grandfathered In

  • Allowed white voters to bypass voter restrictions strictly enforced for black voters.

• Peanut Gallery

  • Segregated seating in theaters where white attendees were given better seats than black attendees.

• Sold Down the River

  • The act of selling enslaved people to harsher plantations farther down south.

• Uppity

  • A term to describe African Americans who didn’t ‘stay in their place’ during segregation.

• Blacklist

  • The notion that white is good, and black is bad.

• Black Sheep

  • Associates the term black with being an outcast or being difficult.

Juneteenth is an opportunity to reflect on and learn more about the Black experience in America. We encourage you to take time today or this weekend to explore the ongoing inequities faced by African Americans and other marginalized communities.

References:

• The Rise of Jim Crow, 1877–1900 – Black Citizenship in the Age of Jim Crow

• Juneteenth: Why It Took 2.5 Years for Freedom to Reach Texas | HISTORY

• 13 Everyday Phrases With Offensive Histories | Illumeably

This piece was authored by Maureen Williams Tillery.