[NFBV-Announce] Extra extra read all about it

[Jacki Bruce]

Hey NFB family and friends.  Please read below from the black empowerment committee.  A little history on Juneteenth. 


Dear Affiliate Members,

We, the members of the Black Empowerment Committee, a subcommittee of the Diversity and Inclusion Committee of the NFBV, present to you with a little information about Juneteenth and a poem commemorating it. 

Juneteenth is the oldest known celebration commemorating the end of slavery in the United States. 

Here is how it began.

The year was 1865. The 19th day of June. Union Army general Gordon Granger rides into town as the newly appointed Commander of the District of Texas. It had been 3 years since the 16th President of United States Abraham Lincoln signed the Émancipation Proclamation and his first act of duty was to let the people know. So it was in Aston Villa, a Victorian structured house, he read General Order No. 3. The order stated:
Head Quarters District of Texas
Galveston Texas June 19th 1865.
General Orders No. 3.
The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor.
The freedmen are advised to remain quietly at their present homes and work for wages. They are informed that they will not be allowed to collect at military posts and that they will not be supported in idleness either there or elsewhere.
By order of Major General Granger
Recorded by F.W. Emery, Major A.A. Genl (

A copy of the order was spread throughout Texas and the rest of the news outlets in the country at the time starting the day after it was announced. Some slave owners let their slaves go immediately, others waited a bit for sharing the news but were ultimately told that they were legally free to go or given the option to stay and be paid. Some took this option course and others didn't. 

At the time of this writing, the 117th United States Congress has passed legislation, which President Biden promptly signed, making Juneteenth a federally recognized holiday. According to the Congressional Research Service, currently 47 states and the District of Columbia celebrate and/or recognize Juneteenth as known as Freedom Day, Jubilee Day, Liberation Day, Emancipation Day (TX). It has been recognized as a holiday for some time now in Commonwealth cities and counties such as Hampton, Newport News, Portsmouth, Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Williamsburg, Jamestown. 

We encourage you to celebrate this joyous event by reflecting to for far we have come as a nation and how much more we have to do as we collectively strive to make this country "a more perfect union" as well as having a celebratory party (if you do choose). 

Juneteenth

I’m black without apology
Swag drippin
Melanin glistenin
Long waited acknowledgement
Freedom day
You hear what I say?
Freedom day!
It took a long time for word to spread
More than two years to span the nation
So now, now we celebrate
While continuing to educate
So the others know
There’s a point we’re making
This is not for show
It’s a promise 
A beginning 
Avow
A manifestation
Of the union winning
It’s Juneteenth
You know what that means?
Liberty
For you, for me
The time is now
Embrace your complexion
Its complexity
I’m so black
Unapologetically
Poetically
Melanin poppin
Saucy
Chocolatey
Just me
Just you
You know how we do
You know how we be
We’ve come a ways down the road
But still got a long way to go
On June nineteenth
The story was told
We won’t let it go
Our people were freed
Finally
You know what that means?
A semblance of peace
In a way, liberty
Partial victory
It’s called Juneteenth
A step toward unity


Peace,
Butterfly


Peace,

Jacki Bruce 

Corresponding Secretary, National Federation of the Blind of Virginia

mailto:jackibruce6 at gmail.com

tel:(757)291-1789

www.nfb.org

www.nfbv.org

Follow us on Twitter @NFBVirginia

Find us on Facebook @NationalFederationoftheBlindofVirginia

Live the life you want.

The National Federation of the Blind is a community of members and friends who believe in the hopes and dreams of the nation’s blind. Every day we work together to help blind people live the lives they want.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/nfbv-announce_nfbnet.org/attachments/20210619/e9843f71/attachment.html>