Many people are surprised to learn that “Lift Every Voice and Sing” was first written as a poem. Created by James Weldon Johnson, it was performed for the first time by 500 school children in celebration of President Lincoln’s Birthday on February 12, 1900 in Jacksonville, FL. The poem was set to music by Johnson’s brother, John Rosamond Johnson, and soon adopted by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) as its official song. Today “Lift Every Voice and Sing” is one of the most cherished songs of the African American Civil Rights Movement and is often referred to as the Black National Anthem.
Lift Every Voice and Sing
By James Weldon Johnson
Lift every voice and sing Till earth and heaven ring, Ring with the harmonies of Liberty; Let our rejoicing rise High as the listening skies, Let it resound loud as the rolling sea. Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us, Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us, Facing the rising sun of our new day begun Let us march on till victory is won.
Stony the road we trod, Bitter the chastening rod, Felt in the days when hope unborn had died; Yet with a steady beat, Have not our weary feet Come to the place for which our fathers sighed? We have come over a way that with tears has been watered, We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered, Out from the gloomy past, Till now we stand at last Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.
God of our weary years, God of our silent tears, Thou who has brought us thus far on the way; Thou who has by Thy might Led us into the light, Keep us forever in the path, we pray. Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee, Lest, our hearts drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee; Shadowed beneath Thy hand, May we forever stand. True to our God, True to our native land.
Americans are sweating through a nationwide heatwave, Senator Chuck Schumer is taking heat for an obviously staged Father’s Day photo, Stephen checks in on Ian McKellen after the actor took a fall, and the Boston Celtics are the new NBA champions!
Juneteenth has been recognized as a US federal holiday since 2021 and acts as a day to celebrate the end of slavery in the country – but millions of Americans will not have the day off today, 19 June, to mark the occasion.
At least 30 states – including most recently Rhode Island and Kentucky – and the District of Columbia recognize Juneteenth as an official public holiday, according to the Pew Research Center.
Yet as the number of states to legally declare Juneteenth a holiday rises, other states continue to cling to holidays that honor the Confederacy.
Ten states – all in the American south – have at least one day commemorating the Confederacy, according to Axios, and six former Confederate states do not officially recognize Juneteenth: Florida, Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, South Carolina and North Carolina.
Mississippi and Alabama each celebrate three Confederate holidays – paid holidays for state employees: Confederate Memorial Day; the birthday of Jefferson Davis, the leader of the Confederacy; and Robert E Lee Day, to commemorate the leader of the Confederate army. In both states, Robert E Lee Day is also used to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr Day.
In Alabama, the Republican governor, Kay Ivey, has authorized this year’s Juneteenth as a state holiday for a fourth year, amid faltering legislative efforts to make it a permanent holiday.
A bill proposed earlier this year would have added Juneteenth as a permanent holiday in the state, but state employees would have been allowed to choose between taking that day or Jefferson Davis’s birthday off from work. The Alabama house of representatives approved the bill, but it did not get a vote in the state senate.
“It is not a perfect bill, but it is one that will at least be put on the books that will declare Juneteenth as a state holiday,” the bill’s sponsor, state representative Juandalynn Givan, told the Washington Post. “It’s an acknowledgment that history happened, and I think we need to do whatever we can to make sure our history is not lost.”
Some Black lawmakers objected to Alabama’s HB4 bill, pointing to how Davis was an enslaver who believed Black Americans were inferior to whites.
“The compromise it’s asking me to make is just difficult,” said state representative Chris England, who ultimately abstained from a vote. “Black Americans often have to accept really big compromises to make really small progress.”
Others warned that the compromise bill could be used to overturn measures adopted in some Alabama cities, like Tuscaloosa and Northport, to recognize Juneteenth as a state holiday.
“Not treating Juneteenth the way all other holidays are treated is a slap in the face to African Americans,” Lisa Young, president of the Tuscaloosa county branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), told the Washington Post.
[continues]
Our modern hero Bryan Stephenson is working on it in Alabama.
Willie Mays will always be remembered as one of the greatest baseball players of all time. Ironically enough, this Thursday his legacy and that of the Negro Leagues will be honored in our hometown of Birmingham, Alabama at Rickwood Field.
He never forgot where he came from. In fact, he was one of my mom’s first students – she taught him English. I once asked him if he remembered my mom; he said, “Oh yes, I remember Miss Ray.” (That was her maiden name.) “She used to say, ‘Son, you’re going to be a ballplayer, so if you need a little time out of class, you go right ahead and take it.’”
And what a ballplayer he was.
May he rest in peace.
– Condoleezza Rice
Slavery turned the 1860 election into the unofficial beginning of the Civil War when southern states refused to accept Lincoln’s election. Will Biden’s win this year produce something similar?
Even in WV (Which couldn’t make up its mind – Confederacy? Union?) Juneteenth is a day off for government workers. This year it’s the first day of a midweek weekend, followed by West Virginia Day (and I swear to god I think WV Day is celebrated at least half a dozen times during the year). Our office is surrounded by parking lots that county and city personnel park in, and they’re emptyish most of the week. Jefferson Davis’ birthday – give me a break.
A bit of cloud cover is in the sky – hope it doesn’t bring a repeat of yesterday. I’m not a fan of cooking dinner by electric candle light.
Racists in Alabama are fighting a losing battle.
Ivy, it’s a battle they’ve been fighting all my life. I’ll give them one thing – they are persistent.
Sure sounds like Sean is worried, already making excuses for Trump losing debate — moderators stacked again him, Biden on drugs …
SEAN HANNITY: All right, so we know that fake Jake Tapper is a is not a Donald Trump supporter. He’s been pretty you know, transparent about it. He’s a liberal talk show host.
The same with Dana Bash. It’s going to be three on one. But you — the former president, you know, took on the challenge I don’t think you’ll regret it.
However, the Joe Biden that we’re talking about tonight, I don’t think will be the Joe Biden we’re going to see on debate night.
I think the Joe Biden we see on debate night is going to be the guy that we saw at the state of the Union — he’s going to be all hyped up, you know, hyper caffeinated. Whatever “it” is.
It’s interesting that 70% of the country does like the idea of drug testing. I like the idea. They do it to athletes, they do it to horses and horse racing. Why not do it to presidential candidates? I like the idea. 70% of Americans apparently agree with me.
However, what do you expect for the debate?
LARA TRUMP: Yeah, well, this is nothing new. Of course, the cards have always been stacked against Donald Trump. Since the day he came down the escalator to announce he was running for president as a Republican.
The lynching of Michael Donald in Mobile, Alabama, on March 21, 1981, was one of the last reported lynchings in the United States.[1][2]Several Ku Klux Klan (KKK) members beat and killed Michael Donald, a 19-year-old African-American, and hung his body from a tree. One perpetrator, Henry Hays, was executed by electric chair in 1997, while another, James Knowles, was sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty and testifying against Hays. A third man was convicted as an accomplice and also sentenced to life in prison, and a fourth was indicted, but died before his trial could be completed.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynching_of_Michael_Donald
In the first decades of the twentieth century, creating a photographic portrait required substantial artistic and technical skill and a wide array of specialized equipment. At the same time, the act of posing for a portrait was an event in and of itself—it was an opportunity for people to make meaningful visual statements about themselves, their families, and their communities. When those living in rural Fayette County, Alabama, and the surrounding area wanted to have their photographs taken, they did not need to travel to a photo studio in town. Instead, they could simply visit the Shackelford family. Mitch and Geneva Shackelford, along with their adult children, were multi-talented African American artists who were well known throughout Fayette County as prominent members of the small community of Covin. Like so many in the region, the family made its living primarily as farmers. However, the Shackelfords also worked as commercial photographers. Between 1900 and 1935, various members of the family produced more than 850 glass negatives now housed at the Birmingham Public Library Archives.
It’s moral leadership and the courage of conviction. Like being the President who made Juneteenth a national holiday, not just a regional festivity in Texas.
Thanks, Joe.
ivy, a few words by the guy “who made Juneteenth a national holiday, not just a regional festivity:”
[…]
One of my proudest moments as President was signing into law Juneteenth as a new Federal holiday — the first Federal holiday to be established since Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day four decades prior. Juneteenth is an acknowledgment of the truth of our Nation’s history. It is about realizing the idea that America was founded on: All people are created equal and deserve to be treated equally throughout their lives. It is about the generations of brave Black leaders and selfless activists who never let us walk away from that idea, including Ms. Opal Lee, whom I awarded the Medal of Freedom for her work as the grandmother of Juneteenth, and former State Representative Al Edwards, who authored the bill to designate it a holiday in Texas.
My Administration is working to ensure we continue to deliver on that idea — creating a country that truly stands for freedom, justice, dignity, and opportunity for all. Today, record numbers of Black Americans have jobs and health insurance, and Black business ownership is growing at the fastest pace in over 30 years. We are investing more money than ever in Black families and communities. That includes the funding we are delivering to support predominantly Black neighborhoods that had been divided and left behind by segregation and racial discrimination, the checks we delivered that reduced Black child poverty to the lowest rate in history, the changes we have made to the appraisals process to root out biases that put Black homeowners at a disadvantage, and the over $16 billion investment in Historically Black Colleges and Universities so that we can ensure the next generation of Black leaders has equal opportunities for a quality education and pathways for economic mobility. We are working to rebuild and strengthen all of America by removing every lead pipe across our country, delivering affordable high-speed internet, forgiving $167 billion in student loan debt, and creating good-paying jobs that you can raise a family on. We are creating a new sense of pride and dignity in communities across the country.
As we work to make history, my Administration is also working to tell our Nation’s history instead of erasing it….
[…]
NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim June 19, 2024, as Juneteenth Day of Observance. I call upon the people of the United States to acknowledge and condemn the history of slavery in our Nation and recognize how the impact of America’s original sin remains. I call on every American to celebrate Juneteenth and recommit to working together to eradicate systemic racism and inequity in our society wherever they find it.
[continues]
The schools in Ohio never mentioned Juneteenth and no mention at the University of Wisconsin-Madison either. Not til I moved here and had a good friend from Texas did I hear of it. It only took another 40 years for it to become a national holiday
“A US Secret Service member fired their gun while being robbed at gunpoint Saturday night during President Joe Biden’s trip to California for a Hollywood fundraiser.
The Tustin Police Department said the attack happened at 9:36 p.m. PT near a residential community, and the suspect stole the Secret Service member’s bag. Officers are now looking for a silver Infiniti FX35, or a similar looking vehicle, police said.”
I smell a Russo-MAGAt.
My gosh……I wonder what was in that Secret Service Member’s BAG…….
When you flood a society with guns, you get a lot of armed robbery
anytime you hear or see someone say “guns don’t kill people, people kill people”, rest assured you have identified a stupid person
“…in October 2023, the Danish government published the world’s first ever national action plan for shifting towards plant-based diets…”
“Under the radical policy, a new action plan will be published every year focusing on the most pressing priorities in combination with an overarching, multi-year strategy including government spending for what’s known as the Plant-Based Food Grant, in an effort to make the nation’s food systems more sustainable for the planet.”
“Concretely, the Danish government has three main goals: to increase demand for plant-based foods, to develop supply for plant-based foods, and to improve how all the different stakeholders — from scientists to farmers and chefs, food sociologists, and nutrition experts — in this nascent domestic industry are working together.”
“The efforts to drum up demand focus on boosting plant-based food consumption in public and private restaurants, canteens and food services (public kitchens serve up to 650,000 meals to Danish people a day); the private consumption of plant-based foods by Danish people; and consumption in foreign export markets such as the UK.”
“Danish authorities see reducing meat and dairy consumption as key to reaching the Nordic state’s goal of cutting carbon emissions by 70 percent before 2030, when compared to 1990.”
Sturg – Possibly anything someone could use to identify themselves as SS?
Just hours after Democrat Shawn Harris won the 14th Congressional District runoff to challenge Republican U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, he and his runoff opponent Clarence Blalock were busy strategizing.
“Clarence and I are getting together Saturday for an event in Polk County,” Harris said Wednesday, June 19.
A retired U.S. Army brigadier general, Harris runs a grass-fed cattle farm in Rockmart with his wife, a family doctor. He won the nomination over Blalock on Tuesday with just under 69% of the votes cast, according to unofficial results from the Georgia secretary of state’s office.
[…]
And in less than a day after his runoff victory, he’d reached out to Blalock to start the next phase of his campaign in the heavily Republican district.
“We’re bringing all the Democrats together,” Harris said. “But for me to win in November, we’re also going to need independents and the people disenfranchised with Marjorie Taylor Greene. I’m their candidate. That’s why I’m always talking about ‘Leadership matters. Integrity matters. Character matters.'”
[continues]
Scut Farkas, Regina George, mTg. Fictional or not, they eventually get their just desserts.
Maybe Ten Commandments (shortened from the original 613) in the classroom isn’t so bad. One of them is Thou Shalt Not Lie.
Lesson: If lying is bad, but Donald Trump lies, then Donald Trump is bad.
REMINDER: SCOTUS releases new opinions tomorrow at 10 am E.T.
eggs are dirt cheap again, but there will be no headlines giving Biden credit when there were plenty blaming him when avian flu made them expensive
redundant runner-up ‘toon
Lift Every Voice and Sing: Lyrics, Meaning & History | PBS
Lift Every Voice and Sing
By James Weldon Johnson
Lift every voice and sing
Till earth and heaven ring,
Ring with the harmonies of Liberty;
Let our rejoicing rise
High as the listening skies,
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.
Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us,
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun
Let us march on till victory is won.
Stony the road we trod,
Bitter the chastening rod,
Felt in the days when hope unborn had died;
Yet with a steady beat,
Have not our weary feet
Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?
We have come over a way that with tears has been watered,
We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered,
Out from the gloomy past,
Till now we stand at last
Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.
God of our weary years,
God of our silent tears,
Thou who has brought us thus far on the way;
Thou who has by Thy might Led us into the light,
Keep us forever in the path, we pray.
Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee,
Lest, our hearts drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee;
Shadowed beneath Thy hand,
May we forever stand.
True to our God,
True to our native land.
Americans are sweating through a nationwide heatwave, Senator Chuck Schumer is taking heat for an obviously staged Father’s Day photo, Stephen checks in on Ian McKellen after the actor took a fall, and the Boston Celtics are the new NBA champions!
back to the thread topic
As Juneteenth grows in US, southern states cling to Confederate holidays | US news | The Guardian
Our modern hero Bryan Stephenson is working on it in Alabama.
Slavery turned the 1860 election into the unofficial beginning of the Civil War when southern states refused to accept Lincoln’s election. Will Biden’s win this year produce something similar?
Even in WV (Which couldn’t make up its mind – Confederacy? Union?) Juneteenth is a day off for government workers. This year it’s the first day of a midweek weekend, followed by West Virginia Day (and I swear to god I think WV Day is celebrated at least half a dozen times during the year). Our office is surrounded by parking lots that county and city personnel park in, and they’re emptyish most of the week. Jefferson Davis’ birthday – give me a break.
A bit of cloud cover is in the sky – hope it doesn’t bring a repeat of yesterday. I’m not a fan of cooking dinner by electric candle light.
Racists in Alabama are fighting a losing battle.
Ivy, it’s a battle they’ve been fighting all my life. I’ll give them one thing – they are persistent.
Michael Donald
Michael Donald in an undated photograph
Born
July 24, 1961
Mobile, Alabama, U.S.
Died
March 21, 1981 (aged 19)
Mobile, Alabama, U.S.
Cause of death
Lynching
The lynching of Michael Donald in Mobile, Alabama, on March 21, 1981, was one of the last reported lynchings in the United States.[1][2]Several Ku Klux Klan (KKK) members beat and killed Michael Donald, a 19-year-old African-American, and hung his body from a tree. One perpetrator, Henry Hays, was executed by electric chair in 1997, while another, James Knowles, was sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty and testifying against Hays. A third man was convicted as an accomplice and also sentenced to life in prison, and a fourth was indicted, but died before his trial could be completed.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynching_of_Michael_Donald
https://www.alabamaheritage.com/from-the-vault/both-sides-of-the-lens-photographs-by-the-shackelford-family-fayette-county-1900-1935
It’s moral leadership and the courage of conviction. Like being the President who made Juneteenth a national holiday, not just a regional festivity in Texas.
Thanks, Joe.
ivy, a few words by the guy “who made Juneteenth a national holiday, not just a regional festivity:”
A Proclamation on Juneteenth Day of Observance, 2024 | The White House
The schools in Ohio never mentioned Juneteenth and no mention at the University of Wisconsin-Madison either. Not til I moved here and had a good friend from Texas did I hear of it. It only took another 40 years for it to become a national holiday
https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/17/politics/secret-service-member-robbed-gunpoint-biden-california/index.html
“A US Secret Service member fired their gun while being robbed at gunpoint Saturday night during President Joe Biden’s trip to California for a Hollywood fundraiser.
The Tustin Police Department said the attack happened at 9:36 p.m. PT near a residential community, and the suspect stole the Secret Service member’s bag. Officers are now looking for a silver Infiniti FX35, or a similar looking vehicle, police said.”
I smell a Russo-MAGAt.
My gosh……I wonder what was in that Secret Service Member’s BAG…….
When you flood a society with guns, you get a lot of armed robbery
anytime you hear or see someone say “guns don’t kill people, people kill people”, rest assured you have identified a stupid person
https://reasonstobecheerful.world/denmark-radical-plan-plant-based-future/
“…in October 2023, the Danish government published the world’s first ever national action plan for shifting towards plant-based diets…”
“Under the radical policy, a new action plan will be published every year focusing on the most pressing priorities in combination with an overarching, multi-year strategy including government spending for what’s known as the Plant-Based Food Grant, in an effort to make the nation’s food systems more sustainable for the planet.”
“Concretely, the Danish government has three main goals: to increase demand for plant-based foods, to develop supply for plant-based foods, and to improve how all the different stakeholders — from scientists to farmers and chefs, food sociologists, and nutrition experts — in this nascent domestic industry are working together.”
“The efforts to drum up demand focus on boosting plant-based food consumption in public and private restaurants, canteens and food services (public kitchens serve up to 650,000 meals to Danish people a day); the private consumption of plant-based foods by Danish people; and consumption in foreign export markets such as the UK.”
“Danish authorities see reducing meat and dairy consumption as key to reaching the Nordic state’s goal of cutting carbon emissions by 70 percent before 2030, when compared to 1990.”
Sturg – Possibly anything someone could use to identify themselves as SS?
Shawn Harris Will Face Marjorie Taylor Greene in Congressional Race | News | northwestgeorgianews.com
Scut Farkas, Regina George, mTg. Fictional or not, they eventually get their just desserts.
Maybe Ten Commandments (shortened from the original 613) in the classroom isn’t so bad. One of them is Thou Shalt Not Lie.
Lesson: If lying is bad, but Donald Trump lies, then Donald Trump is bad.
REMINDER: SCOTUS releases new opinions tomorrow at 10 am E.T.
eggs are dirt cheap again, but there will be no headlines giving Biden credit when there were plenty blaming him when avian flu made them expensive
NEW THREAD