Today is Juneteenth

Today is Juneteenth and I have been thinking a lot about hidden history and my view has broadened out over the years from Women's lost and found history to include the history of Black Americans and First Peoples as well. today I read a piece in my e-mail news from NPR - a wonderful station both on the radio and in the news: "as moral philosophers have long known — no one is free until everyone is because oppression ensnares the oppressor as well as the oppressed." I do believe this and I also feel there are small and simple and personal ways we can honor the history of our American brothers and sisters. The easiest way I chose, about three years ago, was to buy and read Juneteenth, a lovely memoir by Annette Gordon Reed, whose work I admire and a couple of other books of hers I have read. Second, I made a display for our Woodbury Friends Meeting!

"Like a ripple on a pond, one truth...." I will look up the origin of that fragment of a quote and get back to you. But the meaning is clear. Even so small a thing as a personal initiative can spread outwards. So what you can do today to celebrate is to be aware of what day this is and what it meant to those who struggled and suffered in enforced slavery for two years after the Emancipation proclamation set them free because the violently enforced illiteracy and lack of communication had kept them from knowing the BIG TRUTH which was that half a illion brave people had fought and died to keep our nation whole and to end the crime against humanity that is enslavement.

Happy Juneteenth!

Opal Lee was the force behind the creation of the Federal holiday which is now about 4 years old. Her family home in Forth Worth, Texas, was burned down by a white mob in 1939, but Habitat for Humanity put the keys to a new home into her hands on the same lot where the family home had stood! As Mr. Rogers said "Look to the helpers" and in truth that is where the salvation lies.

Jo Ann wrightj45@yahoo.com