Alan W. Dowd is a Senior Fellow with the American Security Council Foundation, where he writes on the full range of topics relating to national defense, foreign policy and international security. Dowd’s commentaries and essays have appeared in Policy Review, Parameters, Military Officer, The American Legion Magazine, The Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations, The Claremont Review of Books, World Politics Review, The Wall Street Journal Europe, The Jerusalem Post, The Financial Times Deutschland, The Washington Times, The Baltimore Sun, The Washington Examiner, The Detroit News, The Sacramento Bee, The Vancouver Sun, The National Post, The Landing Zone, Current, The World & I, The American Enterprise, Fraser Forum, American Outlook, The American and the online editions of Weekly Standard, National Review and American Interest. Beyond his work in opinion journalism, Dowd has served as an adjunct professor and university lecturer; congressional aide; and administrator, researcher and writer at leading think tanks, including the Hudson Institute, Sagamore Institute and Fraser Institute. An award-winning writer, Dowd has been interviewed by Fox News Channel, Cox News Service, The Washington Times, The National Post, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and numerous radio programs across North America. In addition, his work has been quoted by and/or reprinted in The Guardian, CBS News, BBC News and the Council on Foreign Relations. Dowd holds degrees from Butler University and Indiana University. Follow him at twitter.com/alanwdowd.

ASCF News

Scott Tilley is a Senior Fellow at the American Security Council Foundation, where he writes the “Technical Power” column, focusing on the societal and national security implications of advanced technology in cybersecurity, space, and foreign relations.

He is an emeritus professor at the Florida Institute of Technology. Previously, he was with the University of California, Riverside, Carnegie Mellon University’s Software Engineering Institute, and IBM. His research and teaching were in the areas of computer science, software & systems engineering, educational technology, the design of communication, and business information systems.

He is president and founder of the Center for Technology & Society, president and co-founder of Big Data Florida, past president of INCOSE Space Coast, and a Space Coast Writers’ Guild Fellow.

He has authored over 150 academic papers and has published 28 books (technical and non-technical), most recently Systems Analysis & Design (Cengage, 2020), SPACE (Anthology Alliance, 2019), and Technical Justice (CTS Press, 2019). He wrote the “Technology Today” column for FLORIDA TODAY from 2010 to 2018.

He is a popular public speaker, having delivered numerous keynote presentations and “Tech Talks” for a general audience. Recent examples include the role of big data in the space program, a four-part series on machine learning, and a four-part series on fake news.

He holds a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Victoria (1995).

Contact him at stilley@cts.today.

Spotlight on America: The Untold History of Juneteenth

Tuesday, June 22, 2021

Categories: ASCF News Bipartisianship

Comments: 0

Source: https://www.theepochtimes.com/the-untold-history-of-juneteenth_3863090.html

President Joe Biden signs the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act, in the East Room of the White House on June 17, 2021. (Evan Vucci/AP Photo)

Proponents of critical race theory are peddling the falsehood that America’s history is rife with inherent racism, all the way back to the first settlers’ arrival on our shores. This movement has gained so much steam that even a sitting U.S. senator, Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), claimed that the “United States didn’t inherit slavery from anybody. We created it.”

This statement isn’t only erroneous, but also shows how mainstream the lies about our nation’s history have become.

Just as revisionist history is wrong to lie about America’s past, its approach to the history behind Juneteenth is equally flawed when compared to historical fact. Far from being a stain on America’s past, Juneteenth was historically recognized as a significant victory in helping fulfill the promise of the Declaration of Independence.

Most Americans—including members of Congress who voted to establish this new national holiday—don’t know the full story behind Juneteenth, including why it has been long celebrated in the State of Texas.

On June 19, 1865, Union Gen. Gordon Granger landed in Galveston, Texas, and announced the official enforcement of the Emancipation Proclamation, 2 1/2 years after it was originally issued by President Abraham Lincoln.

At the time of Granger’s fulfillment of the Emancipation Proclamation, it was estimated that there were as many as 400,000 slaves in the state awaiting their long-deserved freedom, since many slaves had been sent to Texas from the other rebelling states as the Union armies successfully advanced. The announcement ended a terrible chapter in Texas history and marked the beginning of a new era.

Texas, being the furthest Confederate territory away from the Union, didn’t enforce the Emancipation Proclamation until occupied by the Union Army. Battles in Texas even continued after Lee’s surrender at the Appomattox Courthouse. The last land battle was a minor Confederate victory at the Battle of Palmito Ranch. Finally, on May 26, the Confederate general in Texas surrendered on Galveston Island.

When Granger arrived in Galveston on June 19, he immediately issued an order declaring the complete and final emancipation of all the slaves. His order declared, “The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights.”

As word of this declaration spread, spontaneous and jubilant celebrations broke out across Texas. This memorable day, commonly called Juneteenth, marked the final death of slavery in Texas. June 19 quickly became one of Texas’s most celebrated days, as groups of emancipated slaves would gather to celebrate the victory of the Union and the securement of their natural human rights and liberties.

In the aftermath of the original Juneteenth celebrations, many of the freed African Americans joined together to help found the Republican Party of Texas and then overwhelmingly participated in calling for a new Texas Constitution that better protected their civil liberties.

Although not made a state holiday until 1980, Juneteenth has been celebrated continuously since 1866 and legally recognized as the day of emancipation in Texas since 1868. Indeed, even as early as 1876, motions were made by African American Republican legislators in Texas to adjourn for Juneteenth and join in celebrating the death of slavery. Despite fighting for the Confederacy, Texas had large Unionist and Republican strongholds, and by the turn of the century, many major Juneteenth celebrations became opportunities for Texans of all racial backgrounds to come together and rejoice in the fulfillment of emancipation.

However, we ought to realize that Juneteenth wasn’t the end of slavery either in the United States or continental America. Indeed, slavery persisted in the states until the ratification of the 13th Amendment on Dec. 6, 1865. Despite the celebrations and jubilations of African Americans that first Juneteenth holiday, the road ahead was still filled with difficulties and hardships in the fight for equal and full protection of every American’s God-given liberty.

But in a larger sense, June 19, 1865, was one of the major culminations of the long-persevering anti-slavery tradition in America.

Although often ignored by academics and the popular narratives today, America led the world in raising the standard of liberty and fighting against slavery. In fact, as early as 1790, Massachusetts had completely eradicated slavery. By 1804, every single Northern state had passed laws for either the immediate or gradual abolition of slavery. Many of the Founding Fathers expressed a sincere hope for slavery to be forever and utterly ended.

Juneteenth was the consummation in Texas of that hope founded upon the principles of freedom in the Declaration that, “all men are created equal,” and “endowed by their Creator with … life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

As Frederick Douglass encouraged Americans, “The Declaration of Independence is the ringbolt to the chain of your nation’s destiny; so, indeed, I regard it. The principles contained in that instrument are saving principles. Stand by those principles, be true to them on all occasions, in all places, against all foes, and at whatever cost.”

We shouldn’t let critical race theory rewrite our nation’s history, and the history of Juneteenth, to fit a political agenda. Instead, we should all celebrate this momentous day in the long fight for freedom together, and remember that the inalienable rights of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” must be continually defended in every generation.

Timothy Barton is the president of WallBuilders, a national organization dedicated to highlighting the true facts about the founding of America, our Constitution, and our rich history.

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