Understanding the basics of Juneteenth

If you ask a Civil War history buff how many slaves President Lincoln freed with the Emancipation Proclamation, the answer would be: none. Zero. And the reason for that is that this order was delivered during a war, and at that time wasn't recognized by the enemy. It's just like the Declaration of Independence in 1776, which really didn't mean anything until the war with England was won. But these are the dates that are taught in school, and if you're not a serious history fan, I understand.

But I think that I can help with Juneteenth, which was June 19th, 1865. That was when the slaves in Texas were freed, and it was actually a couple of months after the surrender of the Confederate Army in Virginia.

Going from the surrender at Appomattox on April 9th to getting the word out to Texas on June 19th seems an awfully long time, even for government work. But that's how long it took. Remember that this was in 1865, and Twitter hadn't been invented yet! And besides, traditionally people have had a very hard time accepting that they've lost a war, it's just human nature.

If Lincoln had signed the Emancipation Proclamation in 1861, when the United States was still united, it would have had the effect of freeing slaves. But it had to wait until a war was over, and even then it took some time. When the war was was, the law was already in there, and could go into immediate effect, which it did.

Declarations, and Proclamations are a good start, but they don't mean anything until the war is won. Let freedom ring!

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