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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 30 July 2009
There has never been a day in Afro-American history to equal January 1, 1863. This was the “day of days” in which the morning sunshine of freedom finally faded the long night of slavery. It is impossible to adequately assess the human effort that went into making this day a reality. All of the slaves' prayers for freedom were finally answered; all of the abolitionists' speeches were finally heeded; and the ceaseless arguments for human freedom published in the Liberator, the Douglass Monthly, and other abolitionist newspapers finally caused President Abraham Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation. This day was the culmination of the hope for freedom expressed in the August 1 celebrations and the promise of freedom issued in Lincoln's preliminary proclamation of September 22, 1862. The one-hundred days had passed and, wonder of wonders, Lincoln had not reneged on his promise to set the slaves free! As the Brenham, Texas, barber Rupert Secrett put it: “Abe Lincoln touched the pen and four million slave chains were heard to rattle in the southland.”
1. Interview with the author, Brenham, Tex., November 5, 1972.
2. Mrs. W. D. G., “Song of Freedom,” Douglass Monthly, 04 1863, p. 831.Google Scholar
3. Interview with the author, Louisville, Ky., June 9, 1972.
4. Interview with the author, Bowling Green, Ky., October 18, 1973.
5. Higginson, Thomas Wentworth, Army Life in a Black Regiment (1870; rpt. Boston: Beacon Press, 1962), p. 39.Google Scholar
6. Interview, October 18, 1973.
7. For other January 1 parade references in the Atlanta Daily World, see “Emancipation Day Observed in Durham,” 01 7, 1934, p. 8Google Scholar; “De Priest Speaks in Goldsboro January 1st,” 01 4, 1934, pp. 1–2Google Scholar; “Parade Marks Prosperity in DeKalb Co.,” 01 1, 1935, pp. 1, 4Google Scholar; “Liberation Program Is Today,” 01 12, 1936, pp. 1, M8Google Scholar; Rev. Martinex, D. M., “Struggles of Race Depicted,” 01 13, 1936, p. 5Google Scholar; “Brunswick Church Site of Colorful January 1 Exercises,” 01 8, 1940, p. 2Google Scholar; “Ga. Normal Prexy Is Emancipation Day Speaker at Blakely,” 01 9, 1941, p. 6Google Scholar; “Parade to Precede Emancipation Meeting,” 01 1, 1944, p. 1Google Scholar; “Thousands See Colorful Parade,” 01 2, 1944, pp. 1–2Google Scholar: “Brunswick, Ga.,” 01 11, 1949, p. 6.Google Scholar
8. Interview with the author, Columbia, Ga., January 2, 1973.
9. Interview with the author, Bloomington, Ind., June 26, 1972.
10. Interview, June 9, 1972.
11. Interview, June 26, 1972.
12. Interview, October 18, 1973.
13. “The Speeches Went 'Round an' 'Round” (editorial), Atlanta Daily World, 01 8, 1941, p. 6.Google Scholar For other Emancipation Day editorials in the Atlanta Daily World see: “The Slavery Atmosphere of Lincoln's Youth,” 12 23, 1933, p. 6Google Scholar; “Emancipation Celebration,” 12 30, 1933, p. 6Google Scholar; “The Spirit of Booker Washington,” 12 31, 1933, p. 4Google Scholar; “Mr. Lincoln and the Union,” 01 1, 1934, p. 6Google Scholar; “The Emancipation Proclamation,” 01 1, 1935, p. 6Google Scholar; “Reverend Border's Speech,” 01 2, 1938, p. 4Google Scholar; “Walter White,” 12 31, 1934, p. 6Google Scholar; “A Good and Timely Speech,” 01 2, 1937, p. 4Google Scholar; “The NAACP Emancipation Day Program,” 12 31, 1937, p. 6Google Scholar; “A Good Beginning,” 01 5, 1943, p. 6Google Scholar; “All Should Go,” 12 31, 1943, p. 6Google Scholar; “The New Type Emancipation,” 01 3, 1945, p. 6Google Scholar; “Freedom Train in Atlanta,” 01 1, 1948, p. 6Google Scholar; “Emancipation Day Exercises,” 01 1, 1949, p. 6Google Scholar; “Dr. Nabrit's Speech,” 01 5, 1949, p. 6Google Scholar; “Justice Delaney's Speech,” 01 3, 1952, p. 5Google Scholar; “Dr. Jackson's Great Speech,” 01 3, 1954, p. 4Google Scholar; “‘Still in This Fight,’” 01 2, 1955, p. 4Google Scholar; “The Addresses of the ‘Emancipators,’” 01 4, 1955, p. 5Google Scholar; “Sound Advice from Congressman Diggs,” 01 3, 1956, p. 6Google Scholar; “A New Apostle of a New Day Comes to Judgment,” 01 3, 1957, p. 3Google Scholar; “Emancipation Day,” 01 1, 1958, p. 6Google Scholar; “The Emancipation Challenge at Big Bethel,” 01 5, 1961, p. 6Google Scholar; “Freedom Day Celebration,” 12 28, 1961, p. 6Google Scholar; “Emancipation Day,” 12, 31, 1959, p. 6Google Scholar; “The First One Hundred Years,” 01 6, 1963, p. 4Google Scholar; “Judge J. Earl Dearing, Emancipation Proclamation Speaker, Today,” 01 1, 1964, p. 4Google Scholar; “Observing Emancipation,” 12 30, 1964, p. 6Google Scholar; “It's a Good 1965 Challenge,” 01 3, 1965, p. 4Google Scholar; “The Emancipation,” 12 31, 1965, p. 6Google Scholar; “Two Leaders Speak Out,” 01 6, 1966, p. 4Google Scholar; “Evers and Emancipation,” 12 31, 1967, p. 6.Google Scholar
14. Interview with the author, Nashville, Tenn., December 28, 1972.
15. Interview with the author, Atlanta, Ga., December 30, 1972.
16. Ibid.
17. Recorded during the Emancipation Proclamation Service held at the New Providence Baptist church, Columbia, Ga., on Monday, January 1, 1973.
18. See Abrahams, Roger D., Deep Down in the Jungle: Negro Narrative Folklore from the Streets of Philadelphia (Chicago: Aldine Publishing Co., 1970), p. 97.Google Scholar
19. For an analysis of the rhymed couplet's use in black poetry, see Wiggins, William H. Jr., “I Am the Greatest: The Folklore of Muhammad Ali,” Black Lines. 2 (Fall 1971), 56–68.Google Scholar
20. Interview, June 9, 1972.
21. Interview, October 18, 1973.
22. Ibid.
23. Berry, William Earl, “Kim Weston Lifts Every Black Voice with New Dignity,” Jet, 01 11, 1973, p. 54.Google Scholar
24. Berry, , “Kim Weston,” pp. 54–58.Google Scholar
25. Johnson, James Weldon, Along This Way: The Autobiography of James Weldon Johnson (New York: Viking Press, 1968), p. 155.Google Scholar
26. Recorded during the Emancipation Proclamation Service held at the New Providence Baptist church, Columbia, Ga., Monday, January 1, 1973.
27. “Rev. C. K. Steele Asks Albanians to Complete the Job of Freedom,” The Atlanta Daily World, 01 1, 1966, p. 5.Google Scholar
28. “Aunt Jane” and “Dr. Thomas” refer to two stereotypes of Afro-Americans at worship. The latter is usually college-trained and reserved in his style of worship. The former is usually that unlettered, elderly lady who is not ashamed to say “amen,” and shout or cry during the service. For an example of this emotional style of worship see Emoline Glasgow, “Boots or No Boots” in Lay My Burden Down: A Folk History of Slavery, ed., Botkin, B. A. (Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 1969), p. 28.Google Scholar
29. Interview, December 30, 1972.
30. Jones, Lucius, “Dean J. P. Brawley Challenges Young Negro in Emancipation Address in Clark Chapel,” Atlanta Daily World, 01 6, 1932, p. 2.Google Scholar
31. Quoted in “NAACP Speaker Points Out Aims of Negro Race,” Atlanta Daily World, 01 2, 1943, p. 1.Google Scholar
32. Stokes, Thaddeus T., “Emancipation Day Audience Told: Negro Must Move into Mainstream of American Life,” Atlanta Daily World, 01 2, 1965, p. 1.Google Scholar For a more recent statement of Jordan's views, see Goldman, Peter, “What Ever Happened to Black America?” Newsweek, 02 19, 1973, pp. 29–34.Google Scholar
33. Recorded during the Emancipation Proclamation Service held at the New Providence Baptist Church, Columbus, Ga., January 1, 1973.
34. Rev. Arnold, Taschereau, “NAACP Emancipation Day Sidelights at Wheat St.,” Atlanta Daily World, 01 3, 1956, p. 2.Google Scholar
35. Interview with the author, Nashville, Tenn., December 28, 1972.
36. “The Speeches Went 'Round and 'Round,” Atlanta Daily World, 01 8, 1941, p. 6.Google Scholar
37. “Reverend Border's Speech,” Atlanta Daily World, 01 2, 1938, p. 4.Google Scholar