Today na Juneteenth, di day wey mark di arrival of union troops for Galveston, Texas, at di close of di Civil War. Dem come to enforce President Lincoln‘s Emancipation Proclamation, wey more dan two years earlier, don order say enslaved people for Confederate States go free.
For this year, we dey take look at dat moment for history and how news of freedom spread through di grapevine across di South. NPR’s Scott Neuman get di story.
Once Lincoln issue im proclamation, white Southerners dey anxious to keep di explosive news of im executive order from di ears of dia slaves. But as Lincoln historian Harold Holzer talk, since enslaved people dey prohibited from reading or writing, some assume dem no go learn of dia own freedom.
Dem also assume say dem dey oblivious to conversation. But di truth na, dem no be. Holzer be director of di Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College for New York. According to am, dere undoubtedly be talk around households for di Confederate South say Lincoln don issue wetin dem tink be outrageous, illegal, race-war-fomenting order.
Di Emancipation Proclamation take effect on January 1, 1863. Na di one most of us learn about for history class, but e actually no be di first. Lincoln issue a preliminary version for September 1862, so di move don telegraphed. White Southerners and many enslaved Black people alike know say e dey come.
Kellie Carter Jackson, chair of Africana Studies at Wellesley College, talk say word spreads fast. So for people wey know say dis dey happen, literally at midnight on January 1, 1863, dere be enslaved people wey dey ready to party.
But actual freedom take more dan a proclamation from di North. M. Kelley, director of di National Humanities Center and author of a recent book on di history of Juneteenth, say right from di early stages of di war, whenever Northern troops push south, slaves dey poised to bolt to freedom. Di idea for most of di enslaved na say if di Union come, you dey free.
So while di news no be entirely new to many slaves for Galveston on June 19, 1865, Juneteenth endure because e mark di moment wey di rumors of freedom finally become reality.
