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| Museum and Tourist's Center list of Important Dates in history of Washington, Louisiana. March 2015. |
I'm in Birmingham, Alabama.
Juneteenth 2021 is coming up this weekend.
I've been going through past photos, editing and organizing.
I bumped into a photo I took in 2015: A list of Important Dates in the history of the historic village of Washington, in Louisiana.
Apparently not a thing in Washington, Louisiana:
- Slavery
- Civil War
- Emancipation
- Opelousas Massacre (with its catalyst in Washington) (or heck, even call it the Opelousas "Riot")
Nor are these noteworthy events:
April 9, 1866: The first civil rights act in the United States, which overturned the Black Codes and which established that "all persons" (including Black persons) born in the U.S. are citizens. [But: The Act specifically excluded most Native Americans from citizenship.]
July 9, 1868: The 14th Amendment to the Constitution re-affirmed that all persons born in the U.S. are citizens. [Note:
But voting rights were denied to all women and to most Native
Americans. The 14th Amendment was generally interpreted to deny
citizenship to most Native Americans, as well.]
June 2, 1924 (less than 100 years ago!): The Indian Citizens Act allowed as how Native Americans are U.S. citizens, too.
Here in Alabama, the state scrubs out the federal holiday that commemorates Dr. Martin Luther King's birthday by bleaching it with a state holiday that honors Robert E. Lee, the Confederate general.
In fact, Alabama has three PAID holidays that honor those who fought and died to protect their right to enslave fellow human beings.
In good news, there are efforts afoot to make Juneteenth a federal holiday.
A couple of days ago, the U.S. Senate voted unanimously to make Juneteenth a federal holiday.
Yesterday, the U.S. House voted in favor of same, over the objections of, yes, two of Alabama's four representatives. (On the other hand, Governor Ivey recently proclaimed Juneteenth as an important day.)
Related posts
- The Peculiar blindness, Part 1: Introduction
- The Peculiar Blindness, Part 2: The "Yes, But" Mask
- The Peculiar Blindness, Part 3: You Don't See What I Don't See
- The Peculiar Blindness, Part 4: Casual Contempt
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