Urban Planner | Climate and Environmental Justice | Housing Policy Community Engagement | Dynamic Speaker and Coach
I would LOVE and APPRECIATE your questions and comments on this day. This is not black history, This is American history. We just happened to be black in it. After this day, June 19th, 1865, so much happened. Under the direction of then President Andrew Johnson, nearly all the southern states would enact their own black codes in 1865 and 1866. While the codes granted certain freedoms to African Americans—including the right to buy and own property, marry, make contracts and testify in court (only in cases involving people of their own race)—their primary purpose was to restrict Black peoples’ labor and activity. Black people who broke labor contracts were subject to arrest, beating and forced labor, and apprenticeship laws forced many minors (either orphans or those whose parents were deemed unable to support them by a judge 🤨) into unpaid labor for white planters. Passed by a political system in which Black people effectively had no voice, the black codes were enforced by all-white police and state militia forces—often made up of Confederate veterans of the Civil War—across the South. After passing the Civil Rights Act (over Johnson’s veto), Republicans in Congress effectively took control of Reconstruction. The Reconstruction Act of 1867 required southern states to ratify the 14th Amendment—which granted “equal protection” of the Constitution to former enslaved people—and enact universal male suffrage before they could rejoin the Union. The 15th Amendment, adopted in 1870, guaranteed that a citizen’s right to vote would not be denied “on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” During this period of Radical Reconstruction (1867-1877), Black men won election to southern state governments and even to the U.S. Congress. However, white southerners showed a steadfast commitment to ensuring their supremacy and the survival of plantation agriculture in the postwar years. Support for Reconstruction policies waned after the early 1870s, undermined by the violence of white supremacist organizations such as the Ku Klux Klan. By 1877, Black people had seen little improvement in their economic and social status, and the vigorous efforts of white supremacist forces throughout the region had undone the political gains they had made. Discrimination would continue in America with the rise of Jim Crow laws, but would inspire the civil rights movement to come. For more information on this post, go to HISTORY.COM
On June 19, 1865, Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas to announce the end of slavery in the United States. This day, known as Juneteenth, has since been celebrated as a symbol of freedom and the end of one of the darkest chapters in American history. As we approach Juneteenth this year, I am committed to using my platform to educate and raise awareness about the lasting impacts of slavery and systemic racism on American Descendants of Slavery (ADOS). I will be sharing information and insights throughout the day to shed light on harmful policies created by legislation in the United States government that continue to disproportionately affect ADOS communities. I look forward to engaging with you all on this important day and continuing the discussion beyond Juneteenth. Let us honor the past while working towards a better future. #policychange #ADOS
