You know, I don't think 160 years is a long time at all. But as many of you know, today is Juneteenth, and it was 160 years ago today that the Emancipation Proclamation was made final in Texas. On June 19, 1865 was commemorated as the day slavery ended in the US, but it's not that simple. I won't give you a history lesson here, but emancipation alone was hardly enough to assert citizenship and freedom. And these things aren't fully afforded to the descendants of enslaved people.
One hundred years later, the US was in the thick of the Civil Rights Movement, fighting racism, segregation, and disenfranchisement against Black Americans. I think a lot about this—my parents were into their preteens by the time the movement ended in 1968, which wasn't even 20 years before I was born. That's no time at all to have rights and integration afforded to you. Just 20 years ago, I was attending college at Temple University—the first person in my immediate family to do so. Many of you reading this newsletter were around for that time, too. How are you seeing the '60s in comparison to now?
I know sometimes we're quick to conclude "how bad times are," but I think it's important to recognize that there have always been "bad times" here in the US and the world over. Today on Juneteenth, I encourage you to take a look back at history—from as far back as the end of the Civil War to just over half a century ago—as a means to embracing that these issues we are facing today are hardly new. Additionally, the solution to those not-so-new issues are populated in our histories, and if we're going to continue to move forward, it's essential to look back and reflect on what has been and what was done. I think there is power there.
Kyle V. Hiller
BSR associate editor
