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Black history can’t be limited to only 1 day

Published 12:28am Sunday, June 17, 2012

Tuesday marks an unofficial, but important holiday for some locals and will hardly be a blip on the calendar for others.

June 19 is the day that some communities — ours among them — celebrated Juneteenth, the date on which black slaves in Galveston, Texas, learned they were free.

Through the years, the date has been turned into an unofficial black holiday of sorts, and while the purpose of the celebration is good, local historians tell us the historical accuracy isn’t correct.

Officially, June 19 didn’t mean much to local people during the Civil War, as General Ulysses S. Grant’s arrival to the area in 1863 officially ended slavery in our area.

Regardless of the historical accuracy, celebrating the freedom from slavery can be considered the African-American Independence Day and a day of great importance. For most people of color, up until the Civil War changed things, July 4 celebrations gave no reason to celebrate, since most blacks were enslaved for nearly the first 100 years of our country’s existence.

Whether or not we celebrate Juneteenth or simply choose to acknowledge the importance of black emancipation throughout the year, the important contributions of black people to America’s history must be acknowledged.

In Natchez-Adams County, that means continuing to make efforts to include black history as part of the overall history we show to tourists — on June 19 and every other day of the year.

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  • Anonymous

    Funny, in February you guys said it shouldn’t be just one month.

    As long as you stick racial qualifiers in front of “history” that took the lives of almost a million Americans, you can go pound sand.

  • http://www.natchezdemocrat.com khakirat

    ND just don’t get it!!?? I feel that we need to have a Southern White History Month to celebrate our relatives that fought for the cause and our leaders as that of Robert E.Lee, Stonewall Jackson and others!! And to have a celebration as that of a balloon feast to honor our leaders!! We don’t want this to be just a one sided deal to get the word out to the nation to put Natchez on top with the tourist!! ND would you put us on the front page for promotion??!!

  • Anonymous

    Eating balloons would really get some tourists in here, or should it be balloon fest?

  • Anonymous

    We do have Confederate Heritage and History Month each April. While it only encompasses 4 years of OUR history it is still an important month. The local Sons of Confederate Veterans holds a memorial service during that month. We have publicized it in times past but only a handful will come out. We will keep holding them if only one of us shows up. We will not forget that sacrifice.But, I do need to point out there were a few blacks from our area that fought for the Confederacy. I have a listing of about 10 that received Confederate pensions after the war. Granted it is not many but they did fight or serve.

  • Anonymous

    We do have Confederate Heritage and History Month each April. While it only encompasses 4 years of OUR history it is still an important month. The local Sons of Confederate Veterans holds a memorial service during that month. We have publicized it in times past but only a handful will come out. We will keep holding them if only one of us shows up. We will not forget that sacrifice.But, I do need to point out there were a few blacks from our area that fought for the Confederacy. I have a listing of about 10 that received Confederate pensions after the war. Granted it is not many but they did fight or serve.

  • http://www.natchezdemocrat.com khakirat

    I have been asked to join your organization and haven’t but I feel I will!!!

    In a message dated 6/22/2012 8:29:32 P.M. Central Daylight Time, notifications@disqus.net writes:

    (http://disqus.com/)

    rebel4everms wrote, in response to khakirat:
    We do have Confederate Heritage and History Month each April. While it only encompasses 4 years of OUR history it is still an important month. The local Sons of Confederate Veterans holds a memorial service during that month. We have publicized it in times past but only a handful will come out. We will keep holding them if only one of us shows up. We will not forget that sacrifice.But, I do need to point out there were a few blacks from our area that fought for the Confederacy. I have a listing of about 10 that received Confederate pensions after the war. Granted it is not many but they did fight or serve.

    _Link to comment_ (http://disq.us/7vwz47)

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