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[Carrie's Weekly News] Happy Juneteenth! 🎉
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Hi Reader, ​ Imagine a time when there was no social media. No cell phones. No internet. No telephones. Not even telegrams. ​ That’s what the world was like when the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified in December 1965. It took 6 more months for Union soldiers to make their way to Texas, fight their last battle, and deliver the good news that all enslaved people were free. ​ History lesson
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While the Emancipation Proclamation was signed on January 1, 1863, it was only as good as the Union army’s ability to enforce it, and it didn't apply to Union border states. Texas was one of those states, and the region that Confederate soldiers fled to, even after the Confederate Army surrendered on April 9, 1865.
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The last battle between Union and Confederate soldiers was fought at Palmito Ranch, Texas, on May 13, 1865. The Union won, and the General Order ending slavery in Texas was declared in Galveston on June 19, 1865. Slavery still continued in some parts of the country even after the Civil War ended and the Emancipation Proclamation was signed because some people are fucked up like that.
​ Let’s think about this in a 2025 context…Can you imagine waiting 6 months (to 2 ½ years) to find out the low-paying job you’ve been working is illegal and you are owed back pay (which you’ll never receive)? Or that your prison sentence was commuted, all while you remained in prison? Or that the people who captured you and are holding you captive have no legal right to do so? (Oh wait, that’s happening right now.) ​ We are used to lightning-quick texts, phone calls, and information systems that inform us of the goings on in any part of the world. While people continue to suffer in a multitude of forms across the globe, we at least know about it and have a chance to act to rectify it. ​ But imagine if we didn’t. Imagine if you were uninformed as to what was going on in the next city, state, or country. ​ Of course, we know that even after they were informed about the Emancipation Proclamation and the 13th Amendment, enslaved people didn’t just walk out and start a rightful life somewhere else. For the rest of their lives, they endured rigged sharecropping, the Black codes, Jim Crow, the Tulsa Race Massacres, lynching, and the KKK. ​ Formerly enslaved people had to fight for every little piece of freedom they were entitled to, as human beings, as free people, as U.S. citizens. That fight continues today for their descendents with systemic racism, redlining, anti-Blackness, Proud Boys, and MAGA. ​ So please join me in celebrating and honoring the extraordinary story of endurance and survival of African Americans, and acknowledging the freedoms all human beings deserve wherever they are in the world. ​ Today, we have the benefit of instant communication to share news, document freedom violations, mobilize support, and keep in touch with loved ones. Let’s use this tool wisely to defend the freedoms of people everywhere. ​ ​ Carrie
​ Want to learn more about the history of racism and slavery and their impact on African Americans? I recommend Stamped From the Beginning by Ibram X. Kendi. (Or watch the Netflix documentary based on the book.) |
Carrie Kenner
Interested in becoming a doula, marketing your doula business, or what keeps a person (me) motivated and engaged in this work for over 20 years? Join my weekly newsletter on doulas, writing, ponderings on life and whatever is feeding my fire at the time, and get freebies and special discounts on courses.
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