Starting each new year is probably my most favorite time of the year. It is the point where we as individuals, organizations and nation as a whole begin to reflect on what has happened over the course of the out going year and what we are hopeful for in the new year.
However, on the other hand, this is probably my most disappointing time of the year, as well. And that is due to the fact that there is so little national involvement and attention given to commemorating and remembering an historical event that changed America’s destiny forever—the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing the slaves, dating back to January 1, 1863. Something that monumental should command local, state, and national attention.
Some eight generations ago, on Jan. 1, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, turning the American Civil War into a crusade for freedom and justice for all. An eyewitness to this historical event, the great Frederick Douglass exclaimed, “Joy and gladness exhausted all forms of expression from shouts of praise to sobs and tears.” Leading up to the official announcement of the Emancipation Proclamation, Blacks and their White allies had gathered in churches across the North and in secret places across the South in “watch night” services on New Year’s Eve, also known as Freedom’s Eve, Dec. 31, 1862, to await President Lincoln’s signing of the Proclamation.
Lincoln’s Proclamation marked the beginning of the end of slavery in this country, and to assure a Union victory, it opened the Union Army and Navy to Black men, allowing them to fight for a new dignity and self-respect, thus helping to insure “a new birth of freedom.” Not only were they fighting to save the Union, they were fighting for liberty, choosing not to continue living “in a land where men are slaves.”
On last Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025, one hundred sixty-two years beyond the Emancipation Proclamation going into effect on Jan. 1, 1863, the Sampson County NAACP Youth Council, joining many communities across the United States, celebrated New Year’s Day as Jubilee Day, in commemorating the Emancipation Proclamation. It was also a time to remember our ancestors’ sacrifice as we still come to terms with our past.
Also, in commemorating the Emancipation Proclamation, we used the occasion as a time to rededicate ourselves to America’s journey for justice and to encourage our youth to believe in their full potential. We all resolved to work harder at building a more just society in our march toward complete freedom, vowing to never ever give up the struggle to overcome generations of systemic racism, while taking advantage of what we have.
So, with the start of this new year, let’s all remain hopeful that we, as a nation, will continue to strive to become a more perfect union. And “facing the rising sun of our new day begun, let us march on till victory is won.”