LEARNING FROM THE PAST
A Historical Weekend
(Today is June 27th, 2020)
Last weekend had 3 special dates, that were/are new to me:
- 6/19 was Juneteenth (US, since 1865)
- 6/21 was National Indigenous Peoples Day (Canada, since 1996)
- 6/22 was Windrush Day (UK, since 2018)
Today I would like to cover Juneteenth.
I grew up in Scotland in the 90’s and early 00's, and then moved to Japan for 15yrs. I just moved to Canada at the end of 2019, so I’m a literal newcomer to all three dates.
After hearing about them I did a lot of reading. Alone, each is of massive significance, but in a world roiled by protests and Black Lives Matter and a renewed fight for racial equality worldwide, it is rather incredible that all three fell on the same weekend. I had to learn more about each, which was a journey through the troubling history of colonisation, slavery and racism in all 3 countries, which was eye-opening. I learned a lot and would like to share some of that here today.
What Did I Know Before? A Bit. But not the whole story…
Let’s start with the history of the British Empire. In school (in the 90’s in Scotland), we learned about the roughly 700(?) years of fighting in the British Isles between Scotland and England before the United Kingdom was formed (AD1000–1707). Then a jump to World War 1 and it’s origins/outcomes (1900–1919). A bit of Russia & Communism (1917–1923). Then another jump to World War 2 (1939–1945). And that was all.
I didn’t learn about British colonies around the world, the Commonwealth (i.e. the origins of Canada), the US Revolutionary War, wars in Europe before WW1…
So last weekend was a kick up the backside to go and learn about some key days and events. If I was new to all of this, I can bet there are many people around the world who are also new to this. So let’s learn together.
Juneteenth (USA)
A combination of “June” and “nineteenth,” Juneteenth celebrates the day in June 1865 when a group of slaves in Texas finally learned that they were free, almost 2.5yrs after Abraham Lincoln had signed the Emancipation Proclamation to free slaves across America, in 1862 (during the Civil War). This actually happened more than 2 months after the last significant battle of the Civil War.
When the war ended in 1865, a Union Major that had traveled to Texas shared the order to the last enslaved people to hear it.
At last, “all enslaved people were free”.
It changed the legal status of almost 4 million enslaved African Americans in the Confederate states. That is equivalent to the current population of Los Angeles.
The 13th Amendment
While this should be applauded for freeing the unimaginably large number of enslaved Americans, the government by 1865 had also passed an amendment, the 13th Amendment, that while officially abolishing slavery, included a clause that still allowed slavery:
“Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."
While it is to be applauded that slavery was made illegal, due to the “punishment” clause, several mainly Southern states found spurious reasons to convict Black Americans of crime, and in this fashion indentured servitude was able to continue almost unabated.
It also had the deleterious effect of contributing to high rates of incarceration (imprisonment) among the Black American population, which unfortunately created (and maintained) huge inequalities, all the way to the present day. Ava DuVernay directed a powerful documentary, now available for free on YouTube:
While Juneteenth is celebrated as a day of freedom, it also highlights the lengthy 2.5yr delay that affected slaves learning of their new fate as freedmen and women in the Deep South. But for many Black Americans, these days it is celebrated as a day to remember those hard-won freedoms.
Closing Thoughts / Further Reading
Writing about slavery brings up a solid feeling of repugnance/disgust. For me, I can’t imagine treating 1 person in this manner, never mind an entire race of people. I am not enjoying my educational journey through this dark period, but learning leads to understanding, and understanding history (hopefully) leads us to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past.
For further reading, please check out the official homepage of Juneteenth, or The History Channel. For more modern takes on the situation of Civil Rights and Black American equality today, I recommend the following:
- Selma, a movie covering Martin Luther King and his drive for voting rights in Alabama in 1965
- The Hate U Give, a recent movie that covers the police murder of a young Black American, based on a popular book
- The podcast Unlocking Us, by Brene Brown, which digs into the human connections, the core of who we are, with Black American thought leaders such as Ibram X Kendi, or Tarana Burke
- LinkedIn recently started to offer a course for Learning to be an Ally
- You can also take a free Yale course on African-American History, From Emancipation to the Present, here
I am writing follow-on articles about Windrush (UK) and Indigenous People’s Day (Canada). Please check back for those soon. Another entry on my life experiences as an immigrant in Japan is available too.
About Me
Hello, I am Garry. Nice to meet you. I grew up in Scotland, was educated in Scotland, the USA, and Japan, and then after 15yrs living in Japan, I moved to Canada in late 2019.
Since I arrived in Toronto, I have been learning a lot from friends, mentors and advisors, as I begin my new life here in Canada. I have a series of articles about that here. And here is my LinkedIn profile.
As a newcomer to North America, I have been seeing what has happened (especially in the USA) close-up. I was moved to write about some of these things by friends who encouraged me to learn about issues which I had not previously known about. I hope that as I educate myself, I can also share those learnings, and spread awareness to help deliver equality.
Thank you for listening. Let’s work to make tomorrow better than today.
