Myths About Juneteenth, Correcting & Protecting The History; Was NOT The Last Day of Slavery

[00:00:06]So, we here to commemorate in June 19th, 1865 when Major General Gordon Granger went into Galveston, Texas to deliver what's known as General Order Number 3. But, contrary to what you hear in the media, Juneteenth was not the last day of slavery. So, we have to correct the history of Juneteenth and protect the history of Juneteenth, okay? All the All there were 250,000 enslaved Africans in Texas in June of 1865, all right? Now, he is delivering General Order Number 3 that's enforcing the Emancipation Proclamation. Now, contrary to what we heard in school, the Emancipation Proclamation issued January 1st, 1863 did not free the slaves either, okay?

[00:00:49]So, we know that the Civil War During the Civil War, uh General Robert E. Lee surrenders April 9th, 1865, right? You remember that in class in school, okay? Anybody ever see the TV show The Dukes of Hazzard?

[00:01:06]Bo and Luke Duke?

[00:01:07]What What was the name of the car that they drove? The General The General Lee.

[00:01:12]What was the name of that?

[00:01:14]General Robert E. Lee, exactly. He was the traitor to the Union, okay? All right, so what happens is General Robert E. Lee surrenders, but contrary to what we heard in school, the U.S. Civil War is going to continue for another 16 months.

[00:01:29]How many people know that? Okay? There was a battle in Texas during the Civil War that took place May 12th, 1865, Palmito Ranch in Texas, and this was one of the last This is the last land battle of the Civil War. Well, what happens is you got 2,000 Union troops that come into Galveston, Texas June 19th, 1865 to deliver General Order Number 3. Now, has anybody ever read General Order number three? Okay? Because if you read the entire order, it's totally different than what they tell you in the news media. Okay, so here's what Here's an excerpt of General Order number three saying, "Quote, the people of Texas are informed that in accordance with a proclamation from the executive of the United States, all slaves are free."

[00:02:18]Now, 90% of the news media coverage that you see is going to stop right there.

[00:02:23]But like the like the commercials that they uh sell you something that ends in 99 99 cents, "But wait, there's more."

[00:02:31]It goes on to tell them to stay on the plantations and work out uh labor wages with your former slave masters. And it says the relationship that was that of master and slave is now that of uh uh employer and hired hand. Okay? So, it's telling them to stay on the plantations, uh work out uh labor wages, and it's telling them that they're not going to be allowed to uh hang around military posts of the Union because they wanted they didn't want them uh roaming around the countryside, things of this nature. Now, when news came that they were free, celebrations broke out. They broke out in celebration, exaltation, and jubilation, as you can imagine because when 5:00 hits on Friday, we break out in the same thing. It's called happy hour, right? 5:01, we're in the parking lot. You see the You see our tail lights driving out of the parking lot, okay?

[00:03:25]So, even though everybody all 250,000 enslaved Africans did not find out on June 19th that they were free, freedom came on different days in 1865. So, Houston, Texas, they didn't find out until June 20th because uh Major General Gordon Granger and his 2,000 Union troops, they're going all throughout Texas to physically bring Texas back into the Union. It took military force to enforce General Order Number 3.

[00:03:56]Uh Austin, Texas didn't find out till June 23rd, okay? So, June 19th became the agreed-upon date to to celebrate freedom coming uh there in Galveston, but in Texas as a whole. Now, 1979, Texas became the first state to make Juneteenth a national holiday. Now, some people will ask the question, "Well, why didn't they find out until June of 1865 that they were free?" But, the but General Robert E. Robert E. Lee surrendered April 9, 1865, because that's looked at as the date that the Civil War ended, right?

[00:04:34]That's looked at as the date the Civil War ended. Well, the Texas Confederate State Constitution of 1861, anybody ever heard of the Texas Confederate State Constitution of 1861?

[00:04:45]That made it illegal to free slaves even if you tried to free them in your last will and testament when you died. That's why there were 250,000 there. It was illegal to free them, okay? So, why was it not the last day of slavery? Well, anybody study the uh 13th Amendment to the US Constitution? When Georgia ratifies the 13th Amendment December 6, 1865, that legally ends slavery, cuz you have to amend the US Constitution. But, it's it's it becomes adopted December 18, 1865. So, Kentucky and Delaware don't abolish slavery until 6 months after Juneteenth. So, how could Juneteenth be the last day of slavery?

[00:05:27]This is why you have to go read these original documents. You have to go to archives.gov, the US National Archives.

[00:05:33]Go to loc.gov, Library of Congress, okay? And read the original documents.

[00:05:37]You can read General Order Number 3. You can read the US Constitution. You can read the Emancipation Proclamation. Now, the Emancipation Proclamation was a military strategy that Lincoln was using to try to bring the South back into the Union. Okay, the goal of the Civil War was not to to to free the slaves. The goal was to bring the South back into the Union and the Emancipation Proclamation changes the trajectory of the Civil War. Wait, has anybody ever read the Emancipation Proclamation?

[00:06:06]Okay, cuz that a few years ago my mother called me and she said, you know, she said, "Have you ever read the Emancipation Proclamation?" She said, "I'm reading it and it has all of these exceptions in here." I said, "Yeah, I said, "What do you What do you think I've been talking about?" So, basically it was saying that the territories in rebellion, cuz this is during the Civil War, Civil War 1861-1865.

[00:06:29]It's saying that the territories that are in rebellion, if they do not come back into the Union by January 1st, 1863, their slaves will be set free.

[00:06:38]Okay? So, the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation was September 22nd, 1862.

[00:06:44]Okay, this is a strategy to rob the the Confederacy of their most important asset, their slave labor.

[00:06:51]All right, so but the border states it tells you that the border states, like Maryland, Missouri, Kentucky, and Delaware, they are allowed to keep their slaves.

[00:07:01]Okay? Tennessee came back into the Union in 1862.

[00:07:05]Tennessee seceded and they left the Union 1861, came back 1862. Tennessee didn't abolish slavery till February 22nd, 1865. That's 2 years after the Emancipation Proclamation, isn't it?

[00:07:17]Okay, so why isn't that talked about? I said, "Wait a second, Tennessee didn't abolish slavery till 2 years after the Emancipation Proclamation. Maryland, Maryland didn't abolish slavery till November 1st, 1864.

[00:07:29]They put it on the ballot and it almost did not pass. Okay, that's almost 2 years after uh the Emancipation Proclamation. So, when you get in and study this history, you find out one, the Emancipation Proclamation did not free the slaves. It's going to be the 13th Amendment. when it's adopted December 18th, 1865.

[00:07:50]Two, you're going to find out that all those 250,000 slaves Africans didn't find out on one day that they were free, okay? Because as I as I teach my history, I tell people, they were traveling on horseback. They weren't traveling escalators. They didn't have the internet and social media. Everybody didn't find out on one day that they were free. But every kind of agreed upon date to commemorate freedom coming. So, it's important to have these celebrations because they have been commemorating what happened June 19th. They've been commemorating that since 1866.

[00:08:24]In Texas, they've been celebrating that pretty much each year. Originally, it was called Jubilee Day or Texas Emancipation Day, Freedom Day. It had different names in different periods of time, all right? So, when we have these celebrations, we have to incorporate the acronym called HELP, H E L P.

[00:08:42]History, economics, law, and politics.

[00:08:44]History, economics, law, and politics.

[00:08:46]We cannot We have to correct the history of Juneteenth, and we have to protect the history of Juneteenth. And we can't We can't allow it to become the black version of the 4th of July when we get a day off from work and we sit around, eat barbecue, drink things of this nature.

[00:09:01]We have to put some purpose to it. We can have fun. We can have celebration because when you study the early celebrations of Juneteenth, they had celebration. But we have to put some purpose in it as well, okay? So, I want to drop that history on you. I'm a historian and that's political commentator Michael Imhotep Chandler of the African History Network, host of the African History Network show. Uh visit my website africanhistorynetwork.com, A F R I C A N H I S T O R Y N E T W O R K dot com. Follow me on social media.

[00:09:29]Uh my fan page The African History Network on Facebook. I have 1 million followers.

[00:09:34]Uh Facebook and fan page fan page and then on YouTube and on my personal Facebook page, Michael Imhotep on YouTube TV.

[00:09:41]And watch me on Fridays with Roland Martin and Filtered Reality. I've been on 5 years, but I've been in media 15 years while I provide historical and political analysis. So, thanks for your attention. I hope that you all learned something today.

[00:09:54]All right.

[00:09:56]>> [applause] >> All right, good.

[00:09:57]Good. Give a lot of applause to everybody who helped organize and put this on. The rain is not going to rain on our parade today.

[00:10:03]All right, peace.

[00:10:09]That was 10 minutes and he expects Question three. Question three. 10 minutes and he expects >> Uh this is a uh post that I did um a few years ago dealing with uh Juneteenth because after the death uh after George Floyd was murdered May 25th, 2020, that next month Juneteenth was celebrated and a lot of people learned about Juneteenth. A lot of African Americans learned about it who really didn't know about it, especially up north because we were dealing with COVID, a lot of people were home, and Juneteenth took on a new meeting. I did this post on uh on Facebook. I said, "Reparations, the George Floyd Justice and Policing uh Act, voting rights, etc. are all connected to Juneteenth and the history of what happened after the Civil War, okay? America needs a massive history lesson. So, happy Juneteenth, happy Texas Emancipation Day, Jubilee Day, Freedom Day.

[00:11:04]And uh the fight continues. Uh hopefully you learned a lot from this presentation. Uh you can support the African History Network {dollar} sign the AHN show through Cash App. Uh visit my website africanhistorynetwork.com, africanhistorynetwork.com, and uh just scroll down the page. We have uh information. We have uh my bundle pack of uh uh my lectures, uh 15 DVD bundle pack, and it's in digital download format. Um African History Awakens the African mind from mental death. Uh, but also, uh, you can register for my online classes that I teach as well, Ancient Kemet, The Moors, and The Maafa. Understanding the Transatlantic Slave Trade what they didn't teach you in school.

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[00:12:39]All right. Well, look, we have to get out of here.

[00:12:42]Remember at the African History Network we focus on educating, empowering, and inspiring people of African descent throughout the diaspora and around the world because right now it's correct wrong behaviors, not over till we win, we're kind of forever. We'll talk to you next time. Peace. Thanks for, uh, watching today. Thanks for the birthday wishes. Um, uh, as well, okay? I guess 54 years went by quickly.

[00:13:03]I guess.

[00:13:05]So, I don't feel any different today.

[00:13:07]I've lost, you know, 35 lbs in the last couple of years, so I can fit back in the clothes I haven't been able to fit back into in years. I worked out this morning, uh, so I'm staying in shape.

[00:13:18]Okay.