• Who We Are
    • Who We Are
    • Mission
    • History
    • General Synod
    • Leadership and Ministry
    • Staff
    • United Church of Christ Board
  • What We Believe
    • What We Believe
    • Worship Ways
    • Daily Devotional
  • What We Do
    • What We Do
    • Office of the General Minister & President
    • Justice & Local Church Ministries
    • Wider Church Ministries
  • News
  • Church Finder
  • Donate Now
  • Search
UCC Logo United Church of Christ
  • Church Finder
  • Events
  • Contact
  • Store
  • Frontline Faith Portal
  • Donate Now
  • Search
  • Who We Are
    • Column
      • About
        • Mission
        • Constitution and Bylaws
        • History
          • UCC Archives
        • UCC Brand Guidelines
        • General Synod
          • Synod 33 Worship Videos
          • Past General Synods
        • Abuse Prevention
    • Column
      • Structure
        • Conferences
        • Affiliated Ministries
          • The Pension Boards
          • Cornerstone Fund
          • Insurance Board
          • The Council for Health and Human Services Ministries
          • Church Building & Loan Fund
          • Convergence
    • Column
      • Team
        • Elected Officers
        • Staff
        • United Church of Christ Board
          • Board Minutes
        • Office of General Counsel
        • UCCOSSN
    • Column
      • Career Opportunities
      • Annual Reports
  • What We Believe
    • Column
      • Worship
        • Statement of Faith of the United Church of Christ – La Declaración de Fe de la Iglesia Unida de Cristo
        • Worship Ways
        • Daily Devotional
        • Sermon Seeds
  • How We Serve
    • Column
      • Office of the General Minister & President
        • Welcome to Human Resources
          • Employee Relations Resources
        • Center for Analytics, Research & Development and Data (CARDD)
          • General CARDD FAQs
          • About The Center for Analytics, Research & Development, and Data (CARDD)
          • Authorized Minister Opt Out
          • Access UCC
          • Archived Reports
          • Assessment Resources
          • Information Policies and Requests
          • Faith Communities Today (FACT) Survey
          • MissionInsite
          • Statistics and Reports
          • Vital Signs and Statistics Blog
          • Data Hub FAQs
          • Data Hub
          • Yearbook and Directory
    • Column
      • Justice & Local Church Ministries
        • Justice
          • Faithful Action Ministries
            • Environmental Justice Ministries
            • Economic Justice
            • Racial Justice
          • Office of Public Policy & Advocacy in Washington D.C.
            • Justice and Peace Action Network
            • Our Faith Our Vote
            • Justice Training Resources
            • Action Center
          • Health and Wholeness Advocacy
            • Disabilities and Mental Health Justice
            • Encuentros Latinx
            • UCC HIV & AIDS Network-UCAN
            • LGBTQ Ministries
            • Our Whole Lives
            • Overdose and Drug Use Ministries
            • Scouting
            • Wellness Ministries
          • The Pilgrim Press & Stillspeaking Publications
    • Column
      • Justice & Local Church Ministries
        • Local Church
          • The Faith Education, Innovation and Formation (Faith INFO)Team
            • Weekly Seeds
            • Youth & Young Adults
          • Worship Resources
            • Worship Ways
            • Sermon Seeds
            • Synod 33 Worship Videos
            • Music and Liturgical Arts
          • Stewardship & Generosity Resources
          • Ministerial Excellence, Support & Authorization (MESA)
            • History, Polity, and Theology
            • Search and Call
            • Ministerial Profiles
            • Ministry Opportunities
            • Manual on Ministry
    • Column
      • Wider Church Ministries
        • Global Ministries
        • Global H.O.P.E.
          • Volunteer Ministries
          • Refugee and Migration Ministries
          • Disaster Ministries
          • Recovering Hope
        • Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations
  • Resources
  • News
    • Column
      • News
        • United Church of Christ News
    • Column
      • Columns
        • Witness for Justice
        • Into the Mystic
        • Getting to the Root of It
        • The Pollinator: UCC Environmental Justice Blog
        • UCC Roots
        • Encounters at the Well
        • Reflexiones
    • Column
      • Upcoming Events
        • Webinars
      • Subscriptions at the United Church of Christ
      • Changes & Deaths
  • Giving
    • Column
      • Donate Now
      • Ways to Give
        • Giving Tuesday
        • General Synod 2021 Thursday in Black Offering
        • General Synod 2021 Racial Justice Offering
        • Disaster Ministries: How to Give
        • Our Church’s Wider Mission
          • Our Church’s Wider Mission Basic Support
          • Strengthen the Church
          • One Great Hour of Sharing
          • Neighbors in Need
          • Christmas Fund
          • 5 for 5
    • Column
      • Ways We Give
        • Scholarships & Grants

  • Home
  • News
  • Column
  • Getting to the Root of It
  • ‘Do Not Forget the Things Your Eyes Have Seen’

‘Do Not Forget the Things Your Eyes Have Seen’

published on Jun 1, 2022

Juneteenth, Hidden Histories, and the Distance between Emancipation to Freedom

This year offers the nation our first opportunity to honor and celebrate Juneteenth since it became a federally-recognized holiday last year, thanks to the decades-long advocacy of Opal Lee, a 95-year old community activist and cultural historian from Texas who spearheaded the Juneteenth movement. Though many communities of African descent have been celebrating the day that the news of emancipation reached the last enslaved people in Galveston, Texas for years, the value of preserving history and celebrating abolition takes on new significance this year as access to cultural historical education has become a bone of contention and a political rallying point in every setting of government from local school boards to state legislatures across the nation. Under the guise of opposing “critical race theory” and “divisive concepts,” efforts to keep the truths of our nation’s history hidden and eliminate antiracist education are helping to widen political divisions and protect the privileged delusions of white supremacy. 

In the Hebrew Scriptures, the God who covenants with the newly emancipated Israelites, sets out patterns for community and spiritual flourishing as “laws” given to Moses. Throughout this covenant-making, God implores the community to remember their history and to teach it to their children. For example, in Deuteronomy God implores the people: “But take care and watch yourselves closely, so as neither to forget the things that your eyes have seen nor to let them slip from your mind all the days of your life; make them known to your children and your children’s children— how you once…” (Deut. 4:9-10, NRSVUE). Repeatedly throughout these covenantal instructions, the people are reminded to remember their own histories and the stories of God’s unfolding love in action, and to hold that memory as central to their communal identity. And not just the triumphant or easy parts, but also the hardships and suffering.  As the people journeyed through the wilderness from emancipation to freedom, God knew they needed to hold close the truth of what had been so that they could imagine who they were being called to become. Remembering and teaching history is an essential spiritual practice for communities of liberation. 

Juneteenth reminds us that many of the truths of history that we as a nation need to hold close have been hidden to preserve a narrative of racial superiority, progress, and democracy. As a sacred acknowledgement of God’s people of African descent, Juneteenth remembers and honors the generations of untold stories that are waiting to be revealed within these sacred lives, stories that reach back to the cradle of civilization on the continent of Africa and reach forward into the abolitionist future we are building. We need these lineages that trace the connections between the people and the land and liberation so that we can more fully know the Divine Mystery that has been moving as love and justice in the world before time began. That’s why the UCC’s Juneteenth 2022 Celebration features African and African American descendants— geniuses of spoken word and cultural oral traditions—revealing hidden histories: so that all of us can take up our parts in the unfolding story of God’s liberating love. 

Ostensibly, when the Emancipation Proclamation was made by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, “all persons held as slaves within any State” should have been “then, thenceforward, and forever free.” But the historical truth is that there was some distance between the declaration of emancipation and the realization of freedom. Emancipation unfolded, community by community, across the nation over the course of years. In fact, one might say that emancipation is still unfolding in a nation marked by pervasive racialized inequities. The story of Juneteenth shows us that there is often some distance between our declarations of emancipation in our antiracist intentions and statements, and the realization of freedom in our antiracist actions and practices. As faithful people committed to liberation, we will always be on the journey to fully realizing freedom and remembering the truths of our past and revealing the histories that have been hidden is an essential part of that journey.

Dr. Sharon R. Fennema is the Curator for Join the Movement

Have you Joined the Movement for racial justice?

Categories: Getting to the Root of It

Sign Up For Our Newsletter








Privacy Policy






Related News

Getting to the Root of It

Our Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives

84% of Native women and girls experience violence in their lifetime and 56% will experience sexual...

Read More
Getting to the Root of It

The State of the Union

On February 7th, President Biden will give his State of the Union address to a joint session of...

Read More
Getting to the Root of It

Getting Started with the 118th Congress

In the political world, the turning of the calendar to January means a new Congress. The 118th...

Read More
  • Column
    • Local Church and Conference Resource Directory
    • Mission
    • Justice & Local Church Ministries
    • Wider Church Ministries
    • General Synod Resolutions
  • Column
    • Contact
    • News
    • Store

Content on ucc.org is copyrighted by the National Setting of the United Church of Christ and may be only shared according to the guidelines outlined here.

1300 E. 9th Street, Suite 1100
Cleveland, Ohio 44114

  • Follow us on Facebook
  • Follow us on Twitter
  • Follow us on Instagram
  • Subscribe on YouTube

Donate Now


UCC Crest
© United Church of Christ 2023. Privacy Policy.
Crafted by Cornershop Creative
We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.AcceptDon't acceptPrivacy policy