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July 15, 2004
Memorable dates
Last month the African American celebration known as Juneteenth
received considerable media attention. This celebration is to
acknowledge June 19, 1865 when Maj. General Gordon Granger informed
black slaves in Galveston, Texas that by Pres. Abraham Lincoln’s
emancipation proclamation of September 22, 1862, all slaves in
the Confederacy became free as of January 1, 1863.
Slaves in Texas were almost two and a half years late in gaining
knowledge of their freedom. While the means of communication were
primitive back then, there seems to be little reason for a national
celebration in commemoration of the last group of slaves to be
freed by Lincoln. The 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution,
which was ratified on December 6th, 1865, made slavery unlawful
anywhere in the country. Pres. Lincoln’s largesse applied
only to those slaves in the states of the Confederacy.
While there was much ballyhoo in black communities in celebration
of Juneteenth, the 40th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of
1964 slipped by almost unnoticed. This Legislation, together with
the Voting Rights Act of 1965, was the culmination of the Civil
Rights Movement.
Emboldened by the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Brown
vs. Board of Education on May 17, 1954, African Americans in the
South decided to launch a concerted effort to end racial discrimination.
On Dec. 1, 1955, Rosa Parks refused to move to the back of the
bus in Montgomery, Alabama, and she was arrested for violating
the segregation laws. On Dec. 5, blacks in Montgomery launched
a bus boycott which lasted for one year. This movement brought
forth Martin Luther King, Jr. as a leader of the Civil Rights
Movement.
On February 1, 1960, students from North Carolina A & T conducted
the first sit-in at the F. W. Woolworth store in Greensboro, North
Carolina. CORE (The Congress of Racial Equality) recognized the
sit-ins had great appeal, so they organized other sit-ins throughout
the South. The issue was clearly to establish the right for blacks
to be served with dignity in places of public accommodation.
Blacks had been consistently disenfranchised throughout the South.
Literacy tests, poll taxes and rank intimidation kept blacks from
the polls. There was a concerted effort by those involved in the
Civil Rights Movement to get blacks registered to vote throughout
the South.
Despite the resistance of southern congressmen, the Civil Rights
Act of 1964 was approved by the Legislature and signed into law
by President Lyndon Johnson on July 2, 1964. It provided that
there shall be no racial discrimination in employment, education
and places of public accommodation. It also provided that there
shall be no racial discrimination in federal elections.
Bigots in the South were still free to discriminate in state elections.
However, the ruthless attack on peaceful protesters on the Edmund
Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama on March 7, 1965 paved the way
for passage of the Voting Rights Act the following Aug. 6, to
end all racial disenfranchisement in the South.
There are a number of dates to celebrate which are far more significant
than Juneteenth. The 13th Amendment which ended slavery –
Dec. 6, 1865. The end of the doctrine of "separate but equal"
in the Brown case – May 17, 1954. The Civil Rights Act of
1964 – July 2, 1964. The Voting Rights Act – August
6, 1965.
Special celebrations should commemorate great moments of the African
American struggle for freedom, justice and equality or they serve
little useful purpose.
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