Words to lift every voice12/9/2023 “The lines of this song repay me in an elation, almost of exquisite anguish, whenever I hear them sung by Negro children.” Today the song, popularly known as the Negro National Hymn, is quite generally used. Within twenty years it was being sung over the South and in some other parts of the country. But the school children of Jacksonville kept singing it they went off to other schools and sang it they became teachers and taught it to other children. “Shortly afterward my brother and I moved away from Jacksonville to New York, and the song passed out of our minds. ![]() Marks, made mimeographed copies for us, and the song was taught to and sung by a chorus of five hundred colored school children. I wrote the words and he wrote the music. Rosamond Johnson, and I decided to write a song to be sung at the exercises. “A group of young men in Jacksonville, Florida, arranged to celebrate Lincoln’s birthday in 1900. I’m so sorry it’s taken 157 years to catch on, but I intend to keep celebrating on my blog for a couple of weeks with more history and thoughts on racial issues in our country, because I love America-all our people-and long for racial reconciliation and peace. But the day when all men and women, boys and girls who already had been created equal were officially proclaimed equal and free in America. So, next year I hope we can celebrate in a new way! Not only fatherhood. Also, some communities celebrate with greater festivities than could be done at home, like rodeos and parades. However, since I did some research to understand the meaning behind Juneteenth, I discovered that other traditions included public readings of the Emancipation Proclamation, singing spirituals like Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” and “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” which has become somewhat of a Black National Anthem. ![]() sort of like we humans tend to celebrate all warm-weather holidays, and exactly the way I had anticipated celebrating ours this past Sunday. How to celebrate? I suppose the most common ways include family reunions, cookouts, and community festivities like picnics at parks. ![]() Finally, FINALLY, Joe Biden signed it into law as a federal holiday last June 19, 2021. From there, it slowly spread throughout the country, particularly among African-Americans. The very last group to emancipate their enslaved people were the Choctaw (Indian nation that had sided with the Confederacy) in 1866.Īnd, it was in 1866 that the first celebrations of Emancipation Day started among Christian communities in Texas. Actually, two border states (Delaware and Kentucky), didn’t release their captives until December 6, 1865, when the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution proclaimed freedom for all citizens of the United States. This was almost two and a half years after the JanuEmancipation Proclamation freed enslaved people in the United States, but Texas was the most remote state in the Confederacy and the last to emancipate their slaves. It celebrates June 19, 1865, which was the day all enslaved people in Texas were proclaimed free. what is that? It’s also known as Jubilee Day, Freedom Day, Black Independence Day, or Emancipation Day. What a wonderful day for rejoicing over these special blessings in our families!īut, “Juneteenth Day”. So, we made big plans to celebrate three birthdays and three men who are fathers. ![]() For us personally, we also had two additional birthdays to celebrate, since our “twins” (Alan and our daughter-in-law Brianna, albeit born a generation apart!) share a birthday earlier in June which had to be postponed due to illness. This year, Fathers’ Day also fell on June 19, and we had 3 fathers for Sunday dinner to celebrate Fathers’ Day. That’s been special in our family as the birth date of one of our sons. I am often culturally unaware so wasn’t surprised but very grieved with myself to realize I didn’t know what our newest Federal holiday (first in almost 40 years), “Juneteenth,” is all about! All I knew was that our son Michael had a long weekend off so was bringing his family home to celebrate with us!
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