Juneteenth and the Emancipation of Whom: Niggers or Enslaved Africans?

By Professor Gershom Williams

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The first quote that I have cited is quite typical of the prevailing pro-slavery views of White supremacist mythology, long held by many influential White leaders and lay persons of the pre and post emancipation era.  There were theologians, philosophers, physicians, teachers, historians, Supreme Court justices and American presidents who attempted to both rationalize and justify the enslavement and systematic dehumanization of African people by constantly propagating the false notions of their intellectual and biological inferiority. 

In his notorious Notes on the State of Virginia (1787), Thomas Jefferson who is also the principal author of the Declaration of Independence, puts forth a degrading analysis of the supposed inferiority of those Africans enslaved in America.  Thomas Jefferson's bigoted view was shared to some extent by many other American political leaders, including the "great emancipator" himself, Abraham Lincoln.

Shortly before the outbreak of the Civil War, during the famous Dred Scott Supreme Court case of 1857, Chief Justice Roger B. Taney spoke unanimously for the highest court in the land when he stated that,  "Blacks had for more than a century, been regarded as beings of an inferior order, and all together unfit to associate the White race, either in social or political relations; and so far inferior that they had no rights which the White man was bound to respect; and that the Negro might justly and lawfully be reduced to slavery for his benefit."

The latter is a classic example of the pro slavery contract between Euro-American Whites which they felt gave them the divine right (Manifest Destiny) to enslave Native Americans and African people based on again, the supposed inherent racial inferiority of these people.  The second quote comes from a lesser known source who was ironically a contemporary of Mr. Thomas Jefferson.  This French traveler and writer really stands alone during the American colonial period with his keen observations and comments regarding the historical record and extraordinary contributions of Blacks to world civilization.  His name was C.F. Volney and his revolutionary text was first published in 1787. 

When Mr. Volney's literary work was finally translated to English and circulated in America, three entire pages were omitted from the document, which alluded to the greatness and splendor of the African presence and achievements in ancient Egyptian/Nubian civilization.  One has to remember that Mr. Volney was conducting his research and writings during the peak period of the slave trade when the dogma and doctrines of the inferior accursed sons of Ham were propagandized throughout America.

If we closely examine Mr. Volney's words, we can decipher exactly what he is courageously saying about those who were being de-Africanized and "Niggerized" in the United States.  The message that Volney's book really conveys to the world is that those same Africans who were forcefully and brutally uprooted from their ancestral homeland and transported to America are the very creators of the Christian religious heritage which was later adopted and mispracticed by slave owning Whites, who clearly used it as a justification for enslavement in the Western Diaspora.  From their initial introduction into American society, enslaved African persons had their humanity and spirituality called into question.   Whenever one group can dismiss or deny the divinity of another cultural group, then domination and possibly even genocide are only a matter of time.

At the beginning of the Trans-Atlantic trade in humans, the major religious argument utilized by the White establishment was the "Myth or Curse of Ham."  This biblical story in the Old Testament book of Genesis has been the single greatest justification for Black (African) enslavement in the last 500 years.  According to a gross mis-interpretation of biblical scripture, the prophet Noah cursed his own grandson Ham or Canaan by turning his skin color black and also relegated him to eternally serve both of his brothers and their descendants through the end of all time.

For those who seriously want to read more on the subject, I recommend David M. Goldberg's book, The Curse of Ham:  Race and Slavery in Early Judaism, Christianity and Islam (2003).  A brief excerpt from the text's introduction will help make my point crystal clear.  "It is a strange justification indeed, for there is no reference in it (the Bible) to Blacks at all.  And yet just about everyone, especially in the antebellum American south, understood that in this story God meant to curse Black Africans with eternal slavery, the so-called curse of Ham."

Recently, one of my students shared with me another racist and degrading story relating to the Cain and Abel episode also in the book of Genesis.  The document is called A New Look at Mormonism, and is an illustrated booklet for children.  On page 32, the caption reads like this:  "Cain was responsible for the first death in the world.  The Lord punished him by turning his skin dark.  This also served him as a means of protection from harm (intense sunlight).  The people of the Negro race are descendants of Cain."  At the end of the passage, a biblical scripture is referenced from the Holy Bible and I believe, the Book of Mormon.  Now that I have provided some background information to help shed more light on the early pseudo- myths and justifications for African enslavement, I will continue with the discussion on the Juneteenth holiday and N-Word connection.  (End of Part 1)

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As we have seen, from their nightmarish beginnings as legally enslaved chattel persons in British (Anglo Saxon) North America, African men, women and children were constantly considered inferior and thereby referred to by condescending Whites as the evil, ugly and extremely pejorative racial slur, Nigger!

I am quite certain that when those first captured Africans reached these shores carrying proud ancestral names (Kunta, Cuffe, Ayana, Olufemi, Obadele, Aeisha, Hakim, Jawanza, Oba, Tariq or Malik), that they were confused, shocked and certainly unaware of the hateful and contemptuous meanings and messages associated with the N-word.

After so-called emancipation (1863) and Juneteenth (1865), four million ex-slaves were given their quasi-freedom with no land, no mules, no money and no apologies or reparations for almost three centuries of free labor.  Not only was there no financial compensation given to former slaves, but perhaps just as importantly, there was no individual or group counseling/therapy sessions set up to help "heal" the deep emotional and psychological scars of the great enslavement (Maafa).

Our ancestors had suffered both physical shock and emotional trauma for two hundred and fifty years and who was there to give them moral and spiritual support (other than almighty God himself)?  I ask you, beloved community, who was there to counter the negative myths and stereotypes to let African people know that their Black skin, broad nostrils, woolly hair and full lips were not a curse but a blessing from God?  Who was there to re-educate them and to make them aware that they were not intellectually or biologically inferior creatures, that they were intelligent and as equally gifted as their White counterparts? 

Who was there to help reassure them they that they were not niggers, coons, sambos, mammies, bucks, darkies, pickininnies or uncle toms?  Where were the family therapy sessions for members who had been sold away and separated from husband, wife, children, brothers, sisters and would probably never see them again?  When all is said and done, who can pay reparations on the hearts and souls of Black folk?

You can never repay me for the rapes of my grandmothers and the lynching of my grandfathers!  Could this be the reason why still today in 2007 our Black and beautiful children are still choosing White dolls over the Black ones as being smarter, prettier and more desirable?  Could post traumatic slavery syndrome (PTSS) be the reason why we still today refer to members of our African family as the N-word? 

Is this manifested self-hatred a result of colonial mis-education and cultural genocide (i.e. a systematic destruction of our indigenous African memory and culture when we were robbed of our names, languages, religions, our God, and our historical identity?  What does Juneteenth, our freedom day celebration truly mean today if we are still a misguided, disrespected and dis-unified people?

This year on June 19th, and in years to come as we reflect and remember our glorious day of emancipation, let us honestly and critically analyze and discuss what it means to be an African -American person in the Eurocentric environment of the United States.  Let us read, study and know our history - both the African and American stories.  Let us teach our children our wonderful and glorious heritage. Maybe then a proper historical consciousness will produce the unity and collective economic empowerment that we have been longing for since emancipation.

In closing, I leave you with one final word on the topic of Juneteenth and the abominable N-word.  Remember this, an African person is a subject of human history and human civilization; but a Nigger is a fabricated object of the White imagination that has been systematically reduced to the lowest level of sub humanity.  So please my beloved community, let us be wise and finally bury this N- word as we should have when our enslavement ended, many rains ago.

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Professor Gershom Williams teaches African American History at Mesa Community College. 

posted 30 June 2007

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updated 20 October 2007