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Going Beyond Proclamation to Reality, on the Emancipation Proclamation Anniversary

On January 1, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, a pronouncement incorrectly assumed by many to be the moment setting up that U.S. slaves would be “then, thenceforward, and forever free.”

Unfortunately, things weren’t that simple. The implementation of the Proclamation was neither easy nor seamless – it was a step toward ending slavery, not the end itself. Issued even as our nation’s bloody Civil War approached its third year, the Emancipation Proclamation was less expansive – and effective – than it sounded.

The reality of the Emancipation Proclamation was that it didn’t free all of the slaves, instead it only freed (on paper only) those living in states in actual rebellion – which means that it did not apply to slavery in either the border states at the time, nor to those Confederate states that had already been taken under the control of the Union. In addition, it proclaimed freedom that was dependent on the Union achieving actual military victory in the Civil War itself. Hundreds of thousands of enslaved people in Southern states were not even aware of the Proclamation and continued to suffer under slavery just as before.

This also means that when the Emancipation Proclamation came into effect at midnight on January 1, 1863, it turned the war, for Black citizens, into an intensely personal fight for their own lives, liberties, and freedoms. This is why, by the end of the war, over 200,000 Black soldiers and sailors had joined the fight in the U.S. Army and Navy, spreading news of the Proclamation along the way as they fought their way against the Confederacy into the South. They also provided the opportunity for enslaved people to escape behind Union lines as they did so.

Even though the Emancipation Proclamation did not actually end slavery in America, it was a crucial step in U.S. history – one that cemented slavery for all time as the inescapable moral and fundamental issue at the heart of the Civil War itself. The Proclamation also enacted the acceptance of Black men into the United States Army and Navy – a huge milestone – while providing the vital starting point in the obliteration of slavery in the United States.

Learn more about the Emancipation Proclamation (and its ties to Juneteenth)

https://www.history.com/news/what-is-juneteenth

View the Emancipation Proclamation Online:

https://www.archives.gov/exhibits/featured-documents/emancipation-proclamation

Archive

National School Lunch Week Celebrates the Difference a Simple Lunch Can Make

The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) serves nearly 30 million children every school day, providing the essential basic nutrition that contributes to student success and teacher support. President John F. Kennedy created National School Lunch Week (NSLW) in 1962 to promote the importance of a healthy school lunch in a child’s life, as well as the impact a simple school lunch can have both inside and outside the classroom.

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September is Suicide Prevention Awareness Month

September is Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, offering an ideal opportunity to speak out and raise awareness on this vital topic — an awareness that is urgently required, with suicide the tenth leading cause of death among adults in the U.S. — and the second leading cause of death among children and young people aged 10–24. Unfortunately, these rates are increasing, and those who are young, LGBTQ, or BIPOC are especially vulnerable. LGBTQ youth are four times more likely to attempt suicide, while transgender adults, meanwhile, are almost 12 times more likely than the general population to attempt suicide.

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Memorializing the Horrors of the Transatlantic Slave Trade, on Slavery Remembrance Day

Created by UNESCO to memorialize the horrors of the transatlantic slave trade, Slavery Remembrance Day, also known as International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition, is observed on August 23 worldwide. Upon this day, it's important that we remember that this observance is not only a reminder of the horrors of slavery as we honor its victims—it's also about our dedication across the globe to ensure that slavery, and the racism that caused it, is abolished once and for all.

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Promoting Indigenous Rights on the International Day of the World's Indigenous People

Commemorating the historic meeting of the first United Nations Working Group on Indigenous Populations in 1982, International Day of the World’s Indigenous People (August 9) provides us with the chance to promote the rights of Indigenous People worldwide, while also amplifying their voices, cultures, and accomplishments. In these days of increased concern over climate change, the knowledge and commitment of many indigenous peoples to sustainability and biodiversity may in fact prove crucial to protecting the earth for future generations.

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Looking to the Stars on Women Astronomers Day

Far too often, the history books seem to focus on the men who made the impacts, the men who made the achievements—and then men who looked to the stars. Yet throughout history, the eyes of women have focused on the stars as intensively as men, and to them belong many great achievements and discoveries as they played essential roles in a variety of scientific and astronomical breakthroughs.

Which is why, every August 1, we celebrate Women Astronomers Day.

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