Frankly Speaking

Wednesday, June 19, 2013, 1-7PM | Amherst Town Commons

We will focus on Youth Empowerment and offer community recognitions to a number of individuals who have made significant contributions to freedom in our community

MORE DETAILS TO COME. TO BE A SPONSOR/SUPPORTER, CONTACT: amilcarshabazz@gmail.com

This event is organized by the Juneteenth Committee whose members include: Trevor Baptiste, Member of the Amherst-Pelham Regional School Committee; Edward Cage, Vice President and Chair of the Fundraising Committee of the Amherst Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People; and Amilcar Shabazz, Vice Chair of the Amherst Regional Public School Committee. These organizations are mentioned for identification purposes only. The event is not a sanctioned activity of the Amherst Regional Public Schools, UMass Amherst, Amherst College, the Town of Amherst, or any other institution. Having said that, everyone is welcome to attend and participate! Portions of the event will be videotaped for airing on Amherst Media. 

Links:

http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/lkj01

https://www.tsl.state.tx.us/ref/abouttx/juneteenth.html

Selected Presentations on Juneteenth by Amilcar Shabazz:

Justice for Charles Wilhite Juneteenth Celebration by Blackstonian (Springfield, MA). 6/23/2012

“Juneteenth highlights pride in Fourth Ward.” By Mike Tolson for the Houston Chronicle | June 18, 2006. Quoting from my speech at  at Mount Horeb MSB (Houston, TX). 6/17/2006

“Educational Equality & the Heart of Texas’ Freedom Struggle: From Juneteenth to LBJ.” Sam Houston State University History Department Annual Lecture (Huntsville, TX). 3/30/2004

“On the Meaning of Juneteenth.” The Safehouse Historic Museum of Black Belt Cultural and Civil Rights History Juneteenth Freedom Festival (Greensboro, AL). 6/28/2003

“Juneteenth: Origins and Significance.” The Texas Emancipation Juneteenth Historical Commission’s History Symposium at the State Capitol; (Austin, TX). 12/11/1998

“The Pillars of Freedom: Constructing Community after Juneteenth.” University of Texas Institute of Texan Cultures (San Antonio, TX). 1/26/1997

The actual Juneteenth proclamation went along these lines: 

Headquarters, District of Texas
Galveston, Texas, June 19, 1865General Orders, No. 3.
The people 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 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

(Signed,) F. W. Emery, Maj. & A.A.G.

As reported in The Galveston Daily News, June 21, 1865

Thus, the Emancipation Proclamation’s effective date of January 1, 1863, nor the end of the Civil War on April 9, 1865, mark the official end of African American enslavement in the U.S. It was June 19, 1865, when the end of slavery was enforced in Texas. Of course, the Thirteenth Amendment, effective December 1865, abolished slavery throughout the entire United States, including the Border states and the Indian territories. Juneteenth is celebrated with the conviction that slavery was abolished only when it was abolished for all.