S. E. Williams
“Old Abe’s Proclamation is beginning to work. The Negroes are counting the days and hours when the 1st of January shall come,” the Chicago Tribune reported on December 28, 1862. This article was published just days before President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863.
History tells us that in the period preceding Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, many Black leaders were critical of his delayed efforts even though as early as in April 1862, [with the support of Congress] he had already passed a bill freeing Blacks in the nation’s capitol of Washington, D.C.
Despite this limited action, Black leaders and others wanted him to move more aggressively on the issue. And so, when Lincoln finally signed the Emancipation Proclamation [Proclamation] the following year, there was widespread celebration among those already free and the enslaved alike.
It was considered good news that the Proclamation took effect immediately. Slaves were emancipated— or, at least some of them were–-as the union army worked to enforce the Proclamation as part of the Civil War effort. We, however, have a tendency to forget the Proclamation only freed slaves in the confederate states, not in slave holding states that were part of the Union or the so called “border” states like Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky and Missouri. Blacks in these states remained enslaved.
“We who believe in freedom cannot rest until it comes…”
Ella’s Song, Sweet Honey in the Rock
We also learned from history, that the union did not secure victory in the war until April 1865, and it wasn’t until June 19, 1865 that the Union army finally arrived in Galveston, TX, to advise the enslaved of their freedom. This gave rise to the celebration known and acknowledged today as Juneteenth. To make a point I’ve included this link to information regarding Juneteenth previously hosted on the Smithsonian Institute’s website. The link however, no longer works because in March 2025, President Donald J. Trump signed Executive Order 14253, titled Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History, which removed all references to Juneteenth and other information he has identified as “improper ideology” from the website.
Therefore, as Blacks and others bemoan the two year delay in notifying slaves in Texas of their freedom, it is important for us to also remember that it actually took another six months beyond that date for Congress to ratify the 13th Amendment which finally and officially freed slaves in the Union states listed above.
The Igbo people of Nigeria have a proverb that reads, “Until lions have their own historians, tales of the hunt shall always glorify the hunter.” This is an accurate critique of how the historical narrative is written and controlled by those in power too often to the advantage those in power and disadvantage the oppressed. I say this because as the story of the Emancipation Proclamation is taught, there is little if any discussion about how Lincoln might not have freed the slaves if he could have reasoned an economic alternative. There is very limited discussion regarding how Lincoln freed slaves in Washington, D. C. eight months before the Proclamation was issued possibly to buy more time or how slaves in the Union states were not officially freed by the Proclamation. In summary, the Emancipation Proclamation process was long and drawn out.
History also recorded but rarely highlights the reparations paid to slave holders in Washington, D.C. and in confederate states and slave holding union states as well, in compensation for the slaves they were forced to free. And yet, we know that reparations were never paid to the slaves themselves for the 250 plus years of free labor they provided that built the economic engine of America.
Even today, any discussion regarding the payment of reparations to the descendants of slaves seems to border on blasphemy in this nation. For nearly 50 years Congress has turned away from even studying the prospect of reparations for Black people despite the reality this country has awarded reparations to the Japanese people who were wrongfully interred during WW2; we’ve awarded reparations to enemy nations we’ve fought against in war; we’ve awarded reparations to Native Americans for treaty violations; and we’ve even awarded reparations to Jewish holocaust survivors even though they were harmed by Germany and not the United States of America.
Off the top of my head I can hardly think of anything that might rile many on the right in this country more than for the descendants of slaves to receive reparations for the labor of their ancestors and the inter-generational wealth they were denied the opportunity to accrue and pass on to their progeny.
When the Union army finally arrived in Galveston, TX on June 19, 1865, in addition to announcing and implementing the Proclamation and managing reparations for the slave holders, Major General Gordon Granger also declared the acts of the Texas legislature and governor as illegitimate. That being said, he also “paroled” all civil officials associated with the confederate government and confederate military members. In other words, there were no legal consequences for their illegal acts against the American government.
I point this out to highlight the reality that Trump’s decision to pardon the January 6, 2021, insurrectionists was not unprecedented. This is exactly how America rolled then (1865) and it is exactly how America rolls now (2026).
Of course, this is just my opinion. I’m keeping it real.