Slavery Was Not That Long Ago, And The Civil Rights Movement Is Still Underway
Have you ever heard someone say, “Slavery happened a long time ago — get over it!”?
Please understand, slavery in America is so recent that the echoes of slaves’ screams when they were beaten are still reverberating in our ears. Listen closely — can you hear it?
I’ll tell you a story…
“I remember when I was 9 years old, my grandfather told me stories about his days as a slave. He was 13 when he was emancipated.”
Wait? Is that possibly true? In 2010, I read an article in the Seattle Times. She was an 80-year-old black woman, and she claimed her grandfather was a slave. I thought, “It can’t be true! Slavery happened a long time ago! Didn’t it?”
I decided to do a little math.
If she was 80 in 2010, she was born in 1930, and she was 9 years old in 1939.
Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, but it didn’t mean all slaves were instantly freed. It took several more years.
Congress passed the 13th Amendment on January 31, 1865. This was the constitutional basis for outlawing slavery in the entire country. But again, it didn’t mean all slaves were instantly freed.