Celebrating Black History Month & More

By Tommy Ross | Special to The OBSERVER Tommy Ross, Courtesy Photo. Undoubtedly, the Emancipation Proclamation was a pivotal moment in our country’s history. It lifted the spirits and created hope for all enslaved people in America and for those who supported the abolition of slavery and changed the character of the war.& Yet, it’s important to understand the whole story because freedom never comes from just a single occurrence and is rarely one-and-done. It’s a perishable circumstance that requires active maintenance and a deep understanding of how it’s given and taken away spiritually, constitutionally, or physically.& The story is well-known nationwide. On January 1, 1863, in the middle of the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, declaring with the stroke of a pen that the more than three million slaves living in the Confederate states were free. It took more than two years, however, before the news of freedom and the abolition of slavery was delivered by Union soldiers to the slaves of Texas when they arrived in Galveston on June 19, 1865.& An eruption of celebration cascaded from that moment, including prayer meetings, the singing of spirituals, and celebrants wearing new clothes to represent their...