- ENSLAVED PEOPLE HAD ALREADY BEEN EMANCIPATED—THEY JUST DIDN’T KNOW IT.
- THERE ARE MANY THEORIES AS TO WHY THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION WASN’T ENFORCED IN TEXAS.
- THE ANNOUNCEMENT ACTUALLY URGED FREEDMEN AND FREEDWOMEN TO STAY WITH THEIR FORMER OWNERS.
- WHAT FOLLOWED WAS KNOWN AS “THE SCATTER.”
- NOT ALL ENSLAVED PEOPLE WERE FREED INSTANTLY.
- FREEDOM CREATED OTHER PROBLEMS.
- THERE WERE LIMITED OPTIONS FOR CELEBRATING.
- JUNETEENTH CELEBRATIONS WANED FOR SEVERAL DECADES.
- TEXAS WAS THE FIRST STATE TO DECLARE JUNETEENTH A STATE HOLIDAY.
- JUNETEETHHAS BEEN A FEDERAL HOLIDAY FOR ONLY A FEW YEARS.
- THE JUNETEENTH FLAG IS FULL OF SYMBOLISM.
- JUNETEENTH TRADITIONS VARY ACROSS THE U.S.
Tag Archive for emancipation
Interesting Juneteenth Facts
A Tip About Tips
Ever been a restaurant server? If you or a loved one has, you know how hard the work is and that this is one of the worst-paid professions–often below minimum wage. You wouldn’t be able to make ends meet if you didn’t have tips.
Take away those tips and give them to the owners. That’s what wealthy restaurant owners, represented by the National Restaurant Association, has been trying to do for many years. And this year–in time for Christmas!–they have a good chance of success.
Why should we care if we aren’t part of that working group? Because the majority of restaurant workers are women and people of color who put up with frequent sexual harassment. Because of where the practice of tipping started–after emancipation, it was a way to avoid paying Black workers.
Only since 2012 has it been law that tips belong to the workers themselves. Now, though, the Dept. of Labor is pushing to give tips to the owners to keep or “pool” (meaning they dole out however much to whichever workers they choose).
Tell the Dept. of Labor that you think this is unfair and would hurt people who are struggling to make a living already. There’s a petition at https://act.credoaction.com/sign/tiptheft?t=7&akid=26387%2E7078302%2EA0Dubn