Emancipation
22/09/12 05:35
September 22 is a date that every American should remember, but it is not one of our famous holidays. We know about July 4 and the link between the Declaration of Independence and the rise of our democracy dedicated to freedom. September 22 is also a freedom day. It was September 22, 1862 when President Abraham issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation that set a date for the freedom of more than 3 million black slaves in the United States. The proclamation recast the Civil War. Prior to the proclamation, the war had been seen as a war for the unity of the states or as a war for states rights, depending on which side of the war one was on. History, however, now remembers the war as being about slavery and the eventual victory as a victory over the practice of slavery in our country.
The actual date of remembrance is not important. It actually took months for the process to play out. In July, Lincoln announced to his cabinet that he would issue an emancipation proclamation. He considered exempting the so-called “border states” that had slaveholders but remained loyal to the union. In September, the Union won a major battle at Antietam that has been noted by historians as one of the turning points in the war. It was after that victory, on September 22, that the President announced that slaves in all areas still in rebellion would be free within 100 days. The final order was issued on January 1, 1863. The January order also called for the recruitment and establishment of black military units. Eventually an estimated 180,000 African Americans served in the Army and an additional 18,000 in the Navy during the Civil War.
The order also unified and strengthened the Republican party, helping it stay in power for two decades.
It was a critical moment for our nation in the world scene, as well. After the proclamation, anti-slavery nations such as Great Britain and France, that had previously been friendly to the South in the conflict, aligned with the Union and withdrew support from the South.
It is an important date today not because we fear a return to slavery, but because the journey to true freedom is never over. Just as the Hebrew slaves departing Egypt found that freedom wasn’t a single moment and involved 40 years of wandering and seeking in the desert, our country found that a single declaration about slavery didn’t insure equal rights for the former slaves. It is a struggle that continues today.
Ava Thompson Greenwell is a journalism professor at Medill, Northwestern University. Her family lives in Evanston, Illinois. While sitting in her backyard recently she heard male voices around the side of her house. She opened the gate and saw a white police officer handcuffing her 13-year-old son. The plainclothes officer an his partner did not identify themselves as police. They did not ask the age of the boy or where he lived. The assumed he was guilty and put the handcuffs on him.
Later, they would find out that a call had gone out on police radio about a suspect that had been burglarizing homes in the area. The dispatch description was “a black male wearing cargo shorts.” It had no more detail than that. The description could have applied to hundreds of law-abiding citizens. Greenwell’s son happened to be riding his bicycle home from a friend’s house at the wrong time. He had broken no laws. He was standing next to his own home. He was not resisting or running away in any manner. His mother was standing right there. He could easily have been questioned without the handcuffs, or without parading him in front of the home handcuffed and leaning him against a police car for all the neighbors to see.
After questioning the youth and determining that he was in no way involved in any crime, he was released without an apology for the mistake.
My African American Native American friends say that they try to teach their children that not all police officers are bad, but that they also have to teach their children a lesson that white parents do not need to teach – that not all interactions with the police will be fair. That they will be deemed as a flight risk. That reaching for anything, whether it be a cell phone or a bag of skittles can be interpreted as posing a threat and can result in getting shot.
To be fair, police work is a thankless task. Police officers have a tough and dangerous job. They are vulnerable to injury and the risk of death at a moment’s notice. The officers who handcuffed Greenwell’s son were not the ones who caused an incomplete description to go out over dispatch radio.
But today, on the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, we live in a society that is still struggling to grant equal freedom to all of its citizens. We learn once again that freedom is not a destination, but rather a journey. We move toward freedom, but never arrive in this life. As long as one person is unjustly imprisoned, as long as one person is unfairly profiled, as long as one parent lives in fear for their children, we all remain short of the goal of freedom. Wars have been fought. Lives have been lost. Protests have been staged. Prisons have been filled. Marches have been completed. But the journey toward freedom still lies ahead of us. No matter how far we have come, there is still work to be done.
A sesquicentennial is a special anniversary. One an one-half centuries. Today’s sesquicentennial is an opportunity for a new dedication to the freedom of all of the people of our great nation. It is appropriate to look back at the struggles and honor the heroes who have led us and sacrificed for the freedom of others. It is also a good day to make a fresh dedication to the cause of freedom.
Here in South Dakota we look up at a stone face, carved in a mountain and honor the memory of a great man: Abraham Lincoln. May the surge of emotion that we feel be transformed into a commitment to continue the work he began.
The actual date of remembrance is not important. It actually took months for the process to play out. In July, Lincoln announced to his cabinet that he would issue an emancipation proclamation. He considered exempting the so-called “border states” that had slaveholders but remained loyal to the union. In September, the Union won a major battle at Antietam that has been noted by historians as one of the turning points in the war. It was after that victory, on September 22, that the President announced that slaves in all areas still in rebellion would be free within 100 days. The final order was issued on January 1, 1863. The January order also called for the recruitment and establishment of black military units. Eventually an estimated 180,000 African Americans served in the Army and an additional 18,000 in the Navy during the Civil War.
The order also unified and strengthened the Republican party, helping it stay in power for two decades.
It was a critical moment for our nation in the world scene, as well. After the proclamation, anti-slavery nations such as Great Britain and France, that had previously been friendly to the South in the conflict, aligned with the Union and withdrew support from the South.
It is an important date today not because we fear a return to slavery, but because the journey to true freedom is never over. Just as the Hebrew slaves departing Egypt found that freedom wasn’t a single moment and involved 40 years of wandering and seeking in the desert, our country found that a single declaration about slavery didn’t insure equal rights for the former slaves. It is a struggle that continues today.
Ava Thompson Greenwell is a journalism professor at Medill, Northwestern University. Her family lives in Evanston, Illinois. While sitting in her backyard recently she heard male voices around the side of her house. She opened the gate and saw a white police officer handcuffing her 13-year-old son. The plainclothes officer an his partner did not identify themselves as police. They did not ask the age of the boy or where he lived. The assumed he was guilty and put the handcuffs on him.
Later, they would find out that a call had gone out on police radio about a suspect that had been burglarizing homes in the area. The dispatch description was “a black male wearing cargo shorts.” It had no more detail than that. The description could have applied to hundreds of law-abiding citizens. Greenwell’s son happened to be riding his bicycle home from a friend’s house at the wrong time. He had broken no laws. He was standing next to his own home. He was not resisting or running away in any manner. His mother was standing right there. He could easily have been questioned without the handcuffs, or without parading him in front of the home handcuffed and leaning him against a police car for all the neighbors to see.
After questioning the youth and determining that he was in no way involved in any crime, he was released without an apology for the mistake.
My African American Native American friends say that they try to teach their children that not all police officers are bad, but that they also have to teach their children a lesson that white parents do not need to teach – that not all interactions with the police will be fair. That they will be deemed as a flight risk. That reaching for anything, whether it be a cell phone or a bag of skittles can be interpreted as posing a threat and can result in getting shot.
To be fair, police work is a thankless task. Police officers have a tough and dangerous job. They are vulnerable to injury and the risk of death at a moment’s notice. The officers who handcuffed Greenwell’s son were not the ones who caused an incomplete description to go out over dispatch radio.
But today, on the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, we live in a society that is still struggling to grant equal freedom to all of its citizens. We learn once again that freedom is not a destination, but rather a journey. We move toward freedom, but never arrive in this life. As long as one person is unjustly imprisoned, as long as one person is unfairly profiled, as long as one parent lives in fear for their children, we all remain short of the goal of freedom. Wars have been fought. Lives have been lost. Protests have been staged. Prisons have been filled. Marches have been completed. But the journey toward freedom still lies ahead of us. No matter how far we have come, there is still work to be done.
A sesquicentennial is a special anniversary. One an one-half centuries. Today’s sesquicentennial is an opportunity for a new dedication to the freedom of all of the people of our great nation. It is appropriate to look back at the struggles and honor the heroes who have led us and sacrificed for the freedom of others. It is also a good day to make a fresh dedication to the cause of freedom.
Here in South Dakota we look up at a stone face, carved in a mountain and honor the memory of a great man: Abraham Lincoln. May the surge of emotion that we feel be transformed into a commitment to continue the work he began.