GOSSIP FROM THE GIRLFRIEND GATHERINGS

Learning from YOU to empower ME !

Black History IS American History

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In 1565, the Spanish brought enslaved Africans to what is now Florida.

In 1619, the English brought enslaved Africans to Virginia.

They were victims of human trafficking.

And, from them and more that followed, surviving the horrors of the Middle Passage, a new people were bred in the Americas.

Mixed children of the enslaved, the native, and the free.

Today, they are called African Americans.

Even while enslaved, they participated and contributed to EVERY significant event in what became the United States of America.

The facts are that the very economy of the fledgling new country was built on the backs of these enslaved people.

Their hands literally built our esteemed buildings in the nation’s capital.

For example, the enslaved American, Philip Reid, helped construct the Statue of Freedom atop our U.S. Capitol today.

https://www.aoc.gov/explore-capitol-campus/art/statue-freedom/philip-reid

We were at the Boston Tea Party, and we are fighting now for our country in the 21st century.

African American inventors created and changed their country and the world with inventions sometimes born from necessity. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_African-American_inventors_and_scientists

Our blood, sweat, and tears are in the roots of America.

We were bred here. We were born here.  We belong here.

Along with our Native American brethren, the African American relationship with America is unique.

There is no way for others to understand it or how we “be” in that relationship.

We only ask that you acknowledge that uniqueness.

FREEDOM has a different context for us.

Because our journey to acquire it was like no other.

We rise in a different way when it is threatened. 

But we rise … as Americans.

When the complete history of the journeys of ALL American people is embraced as ONE history, then we will have taken the first healing step in our land of the free and home of the brave.

Juneteenth 2021 – A New Federal Holiday

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Juneteenth 2021

We have a new Federal Holiday – June 19th – Juneteenth.

Today marks the 156th anniversary of the date when Union Army Major General Gordon Granger stood in Galveston, Texas, and announced to the enslaved Americans in Texas they were free.

Our current Democratic President, Joseph Biden, and Vice President, Kamala Harris, have declared this day a federal holiday.

Despite the debilitating efforts of some state legislatures to disenfranchise African Americans from voting and the need to change policing so that African Americans are no longer an endangered species in the judicial system, I am happy with this designation.

Why?

Because I have unknown African ancestors who were victims of human trafficking and these heroes should be commemorated.  It was a miracle they endured and survived the Middle Passage journey to land in the Americas.

Because I have unknown and known ancestors who were enslaved Americans that contributed to the success of the American experiment, and their “forced FREE” labor was the backbone of America’s economy.  This country is still benefitting from those efforts. 

Because this happiness is for Arkansas White (Maw), my maternal great-great-grandmother who was an enslaved American, 12 years old when emancipated, and separated from her family at that time.   We have yet to find what happened to them and their descendants.

Because this joy is for Annie White Hargrove Fears (MaDear), my grandmother who had terrible memories of celebrating Juneteenth when she was a young girl and, now, I can commemorate it in peace for her.

When I was a child, she told me the African American community would celebrate Juneteenth on the church grounds with a picnic.   However, domestic terrorists would constantly disrupt their celebration with their racist anger and destruction.  Yet, the African American community would still gather the following year.

Because this joy is for all, who went before me with their enduring strength, faith, and hope for their children even when they lived in desperate times, and I commit never to forget them.

Because this is for all who come after me, and I must endeavor to educate about their proud heritage.

I am happy and proud that OUR country has taken another step towards redemption, recognizing this critical date to African Americans.

  Now, let’s continue with securing voting rights and equality for the future generations of ALL Americans.

Juneteenth 2020 Dare to Remember

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Today marks the 155th anniversary of the date when Union Army Major General Gordon Granger stood in Galveston, Texas, and announced to the enslaved Americans in Texas they were free.

In the past, I held a disdain for the celebrations on this date because I could not understand why we would celebrate a day when our African-American ancestors were “given” something that never should have been denied them – freedom.

However, now, I know that I was misguided because I had not sought information beyond what I was taught in Texas public schools. In 2012, I discovered the truth when I visited the African American Civil War Memorial (http://www.afroamcivilwar.org) in Washington, D.C., and read specific wording in the Emancipation Proclamation.

It clearly stated that the Proclamation provided the freedom to the enslaved Americans in the seceding states once those states were conquered and had surrendered to the Union Army.

 For that reason, 200,000 African-American men, those who had escaped slavery and those who were born free, joined the Union Army despite the threat of immediate execution if taken prisoner by the Confederate Army. 

They did so to ensure that the Union Army defeated the traitorous Confederate Army to win the Civil War so their enslaved brothers and sisters would be freed.

In essence, African-American men fought courageously and won the freedom – it was not “given” to our ancestors.

Even though General Robert E. Lee surrendered on April 9, 1865, the last battle of the Civil War – Battle of Palmito Ranch – was fought in Texas on May 12 and 13, 1865. Texas was conquered, at this point, and the state was occupied by the African-American Union troops that helped defeat it. The enslaved Americans in Texas discovered their freedom one month later. The conditions of the Emancipation Proclamation had been satisfied, and freedom had been won.

It was an enlightening and proud moment for me to learn these facts, which had never been taught in school. Through my quest to always seek knowledge, I moved from disdain to pride in this date and its significance to my people, my state, and my country.  

Juneteenth is not just a holiday for African-Americans but ALL Americans. It is the date that our country decided to live up to our declaration that ALL men are created equal.

So, during this COVID-19 pandemic, I will celebrate with a good friend. We will attend together via Zoom, a virtual tour, and presentation at the National Museum of African-American History & Culture.    https://nmaahc.si.edu/blog-post/celebrating-juneteenth

I will proudly reflect on the journey and contribution of The Ancestors from 1619 to today. 

How will you celebrate Juneteenth?

Remembering Harriet Tubman

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Today is March 10th.

This is the official day to take a moment and remember the contributions of that courageous African-American woman, Harriet Tubman.

Here is her journey:

Enslaved American

Freedom Fighter

Conduction on the Underground Railroad

Abolitionist

Union Spy in the Civil War

Happy 4th of July, America!

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While we are celebrating our nation’s 241st birthday with our families in our traditional ways, let us not forget the principles that our founding fathers adopted when they grasped freedom from the tyranny of the greatest power on earth in 1776.  Now, during our present time, our democracy is being challenged from within itself.  We must hold fast to those principles and to the bravery they exhibited all those years ago.