Juneteenth
On June 19th, 1865, two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation, Union soldiers, landed at Galveston, Texas with news that the war had ended and that the enslaved were now free. The following documents and tintypes provide context to what Juneteenth truly means.
In 1807, the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed An Act for the Abolition of the Slave Trade, which decisively ended Western Europe’s legal slave trade. The United States followed suit in January 1808. However, Britain did not abolish slavery completely at home and in her colonies until 1833. Not until 1860 did England’s abolitionists convince African kings and European pirates and raiders to stop the now-illegal slave trade.
It took much more to end slavery in the United States, as nothing short of war could convince slave owners to release their claim of property of millions of African Americans in bondage. The Southern rebellion began with the declared secession of seven states in 1860 before Abraham Lincoln became president.
United States Soldiers at Camp William Penn (Come and Join Us Brothers) (1863) by Supervisory Committee for Recruiting Colored SoldiersThe Kinsey African American Art & History Collection
In September 1862, Lincoln issued the first of the two-part Emancipation Proclamation, declaring the official ending of slavery as a goal of the war. This forced Britain, which initially supported the South, to step aside.
Blacks were banned from military combat until late 1862, despite pleas and petitions demanding they be included in the war effort.
Portrait of Frederick Douglass by UnknownThe Kinsey African American Art & History Collection
Once the ban was lifted, after the Emancipation Proclamation was issued, black leaders, including Frederick Douglass, encouraged blacks to join the fight for full citizenship.
The Bureau of Colored Troops was formed to recruit and register black volunteers for the Union Army. Enslaved African Americans in the South faced double jeopardy as many plantation owners vowed to kill them before seeing them free. Many fled and joined the ranks of the Northern free men fighting for the Union. Over 180,000 African American soldiers fought in the American Civil War. They earned lower wages, but they fought for the ideal of freedom and died at a higher rate than their counterparts.
Emancipation Proclamation (1862) by Abraham LincolnThe Kinsey African American Art & History Collection
The Emancipation Proclamation had little impact on the enslaved population in Texas due to the minimal number of Union troops to enforce the new Executive Order.
However, with the surrender of General Lee in April of 1865, freedom finally came to Texas after a proclamation by General Granger solidified the emancipation of the quarter-million enslaved people in the state.
This Emancipation Proclamation was a war measure, and was therefore issued first to the military, as it was in charge of enforcement. The proclamation applied only to the ten states that seceded from the Union. Although the Union army liberated most Southern slaves during the war, freedom was not officially guaranteed for slaves in these states, the border states, and Texas, until the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment in 1865.
Georgia Marriage Certificate (1868) by Georgia CountyThe Kinsey African American Art & History Collection
Marriage Certificate, Georgia County, 1868
Following the Civil War and Emancipation, ex-slaves sought formal marriage licenses, as this certificate between Isaac Owen and Margaret Robinson attests. It is important to note her surname, formerly that of her owner, has apparently been restored in this document.
Well-to-do Black Couple (1857) by Maker UnknownThe Kinsey African American Art & History Collection
Prior to Emancipation, slaves might be married by mutual consent, and even receive sanctification from their master's ministers.
But formal marriage licenses were important not only for religious and spiritual reasons once slaves were emancipated. Only by means of such a document could property be handed down to heirs or other designated relatives.
The images here are a small curation from a larger selection of extraordinary early tintype photographs contained in The Kinsey Collection.
My Great Grandfather Sheldon Waldorf and Champion Trotter (1858) by Maker UnknownThe Kinsey African American Art & History Collection
Taken during the post-Civil War period of Reconstruction from 1870 – 1920, these elegant portraits portray newly freed African American men and women dressed in their best for the photographer.
These pictures in many ways represent the hopes and dreams of a people, who for so long were denied the right to even have hopes and dreams.
Tintype 03 (circa. 1855-1900) by UnknownThe Kinsey African American Art & History Collection
With freedom came the urgency to find family that had been sold away, to create businesses and community, and to cast off the vestiges of slavery.
When The Kinsey Collection, acquired these important historical images they came without descriptive documentation about the subjects depicted in the photographs. Unfortunately, the names of these incredible people have been lost to history.
Tintype 010 (circa. 1855-1900) by UnknownThe Kinsey African American Art & History Collection
However, when viewed together, these dynamic portraits provide a collective snapshot of African Americans seeking to achieve the American Dream, envisioning a better life for themselves and their families shortly after the end of slavery in the United States.
These tintypes have come to us without any documentation, and the names of the people have long been lost to history, but these proud and dynamic portraits suggest scenarios of achievement and accomplishment. They provide a snapshot of the accomplishments of African Americans after the end of the Civil War, until their newfound freedoms were extinguished by repressive legislation and Supreme Court decisions toward the end of the nineteenth century.
