On June 19, 1865 Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas and let people know that the Civil War had ended and the enslaved were free. This news—and the Union soldiers necessary to enforce the law—made it to Galveston two and a half years after Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation took effect. "Juneteenth" became celebrated within black communities in Texas and across the United States as the African American day of independence. Juneteenth became an official Texas state holiday in 1980.
While there won’t likely be significant coverage by mainstream media outlets about Juneteenth, there will be at least one exception. The Early Show on CBS will take note of Juneteenth and include an interview with Thomas N. DeWolf, author of Inheriting the Trade: A Northern Family Confronts Its Legacy as the Largest Slave-Trading Dynasty in U.S. History (published by Beacon Press), and his cousin Katrina Browne, producer/director of the film of their family’s journey, Traces of the Trade: A Story from the Deep North which will be broadcast on PBS’s acclaimed documentary series P.O.V. on June 24 (check your local listings). DeWolf has posted on Beacon Broadside about the historic significance of the 2008 Presidential campaign, attending the Sundance Film Festival with Browne and other family members in support of Traces of the Trade, and 200th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade. You can also find him at http://inheritingthetrade.com/blog/.
The New York Times Magazine this past weekend ran a cover story about shared parenting: When Mom and Dad Share it All. As the title implies, the article focuses on families with two opposite-sex parents, but refers to the different challenges same-sex parents face in dividing care, and quotes Harlyn Aizley’s book Confessions of the Other Mother: Nonbiological Lesbian Moms Tell All. Aizley is a regular contributor at Beacon Broadside: read her latest post, "Pride Shalom."
Jeremy Adam Smith links to the Times article and many other great posts in his definitive Father’s Day Media Roundup. (I know, a link roundup linking to a link roundup? This is the rabbit hole that is Web 2.0.)
Fred Pearce asks, "If biofuels are so bad, why aren’t we campaigning against cotton?"
Nan at the blog Letters From a Hill Farm is so enamored of Suzanne Strempek Shea’s Sundays in America, she’s savoring it and reading a chapter a week, then posting her impressions here. If you want a sample of Shea’s journeys, be sure to check out her blog posts on Barack Obama’s former church and Christmas Eve in Bethlehem.
And lastly, have you had your nap today? The Boston Globe has a handy guide on How to Nap.
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