Recollections on Juneteenth

Neil Raden

I am not an academic student of history, and it shows. I was not aware that the #Emancipation #Proclamation was NOT universal freedom for slaves, only for those in the #Confederate States to disrupt the Confederacy, as in 1983 the Civil War was still raging. Technically, #Lincoln only freed slaves he was NOT under control. Many slave owners in the south kept the information from them for two more years until the Union Army General Gordon Granger arrived at Galveston Island with 2,000 federal troops to occupy Texas on behalf of the federal government to spread and enforce the word, two months after Lincon was assassinated. That was on June 15, 1965, known as Juneteenth Day.

I didn't know any of this until a few years ago.

What happened after that was both uplifting and terribly sad. Grant was later elected the 18th President of the United States (1869–1877), working to implement Congressional Reconstruction and to remove the vestiges of slavery. In all, 16 African Americans served in the U.S. Congress during Reconstruction; more than 600 more were elected to the state legislatures, and hundreds more held local offices across the South.

That all ended then when Grant's successor, Rutherford B. Hayes, removed all federal troops from the south, ending the Golden age for emancipated slaves, a situation from which black people have only slowly recovered and provided over 14 years. You might argue about "slowly," but recent events are compelling. Hayes provided massive infrastructure funding, but only to white people. Want more? Denied African Americans of their only recently achieved civil and voting rights. This would culminate with the passage of Jim Crow laws in the 1880s and laws restricting the rights of blacks to vote in the 1890s. The result was a significant reduction in the size of the electorate, guaranteeing him reelection. .A racist sonofabitch in the White House, succeeding a man with a humanitarian agenda Sound familiar?

So for the uninformed (like I was), our problems of race and divisiveness and not simply long repercussions of slavery, it's a long campaign to marginalize African-Americans, at every level of society and government.

Hayes didn't stop at that. In Montana, the Crow and Blackfoot were removed from their reservations. The Ute were moved off their lands in Colorado, and the Nez Perce were invaded after gold was discovered on the Salmon River in Idaho. Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce tribe fought valiant battles and eventually gave up, telling his people sadly in 1877: "Hear me my chiefs. I am tired; my heart I am sick and sad. From where the sun now stands I will fight no more, forever."

If you're interested,read on: Hayes, a Republican, lost the popular vote in 1876 but assumed the presidency after considerable controversy and negotiation. The Electoral College gave him a one-vote edge over his Democratic opponent, but Democrats challenged the decision on grounds that some states submitted two sets of returns.

Facing the possibility the country would be left without a president, both parties considered taking the office by force.

But in the end, the Republicans struck a secret deal with Southern Democrats in Congress, who agreed not to dispute the Hayes victory in exchange for a promise to end Reconstruction and withdraw federal troops from the South.

Hayes made good on the deal. He swiftly ended Reconstruction and pulled federal troops out of the last two occupied states, South Carolina and Louisiana.

Making a an ethical deal with the base that had disastrous consequences for African-Americans for 144 years, and counting. This all makes my heart sick. In fact, it makes the soul apprehensive about November.