I first published this last year and am committed to publishing it every year on this date as my commitment to see with the eyes of Christ all people created in the image of God. But today, I nod and acknowledge to my brothers and sisters of color that this is an important day, and I celebrate with you. Thank you for helping me learn and understand.
Why June 19th (Juneteenth)?
Originally published 2020.06.19
It had been more than two years since the now-deceased President, Abraham Lincoln, had signed the Emancipation Proclamation, abolishing the institution of slavery in the United States. Texas was the last holdout following the end of the war, so the Emancipation Proclamation had little to no impact in that state.
On June 19, 1865, Union Major General Gordon Granger and his regiment rode into Galveston, Texas, with news that the Civil War was over; more than a quarter of a million enslaved Texans were free.
So in a way, this is an independence day celebration for a people who were not free when another declaration of emancipation was penned and signed 89 years before Juneteenth: The Declaration of Independence.
So why not celebrate today with our fellow American brothers and sisters of color? Let us find common ground, especially since…
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
The Declaration of Independance
To you, women and men created equal and endowed by the Creator of Life, the Universe, and Everything with unalienable rights, from this Hitchhiker who was emancipated from my sin by the Triune God of Grace:
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