How was life different for Blacks in Chattanooga, Tennessee compared to Galveston, Texas during the Civil War? One might answer, nothing, since Blacks were treated as property with no human rights due to cultural acceptance at the time.
Books could be written on the definitions of culture versus what God says. Let’s stick to the historical facts.
Chattanooga was the southernmost point of the anti-slavery movement with the population divided. The state of Tennessee was the last to separate from the Union to fight with the Confederacy, or pro-slavery states. According to the 1860 census, the entire state of Tennessee had 275,719 enslaved persons, about 25% of the 1.1 million citizens. Hamilton County recorded fewer than 4,000 slaves. East Tennessee reported fewer than 45,000; Middle Tennessee had about 110,000; West Tennessee had approximately 135,000 slaves.
Chattanooga was not a stronghold of the Confederacy–the pro-slave movement. President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation was announced on January 1, 1863, two years before the Civil War ended in May 1865. By September 1863, Union forces controlled Chattanooga. This meant Blacks in Southeast Tennessee were freed sooner than most southern states, especially Texas.
The anti-slavery forces, the railroad, and the comparatively small number of landowners who owned slaves provided fertile ground for freedom for Blacks in Chattanooga and Hamilton County. Blacks had opportunities for education, leadership in houses of faith, employment, and early observance of the Constitutional rights provided through the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments.
Slavery was abolished. Citizenship and equal protection under the law was codified. The right to vote for men regardless of status of free or previous enslavement was established in federal law. Unfortunately, cultural norms in the South continued to push against these rights and human decency, requiring Union forces during the era of Reconstruction from late 1864 through 1877.
During this window of time, history records that Union forces finally reached Texas on June 19, 1865. Union Major General Gordon Granger delivered General Order No. 3 declaring the immediate freedom of all slaves.
The order declared under law and military enforcement the “absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor.”
After more than two years since Blacks in Tennessee experienced freedom, those in Texas went from property to having property rights; they went from forced laborers to workers for wages.
While commemorating Juneteenth this year and every year, consider the Union soldiers fighting the Battle of Chattanooga, a critical engagement between the Union and Confederacy that many cite as one of the turning points of history, where Black troops fought for freedom.
Look at Orchard Knob, Lookout Mountain, Missionary Ridge, the banks of the Tennessee River, and the railroads. Think of the role that Blacks in Chattanooga, and anti-slavery soldiers, played to free all Blacks from a culturally approved sin –slavery.
Let’s forever pray our area stands above cultural approval to keep the Chattanooga Way.
“This year’s Juneteenth celebration is especially meaningful as we honor the legacy of Johnny Holloway and expand our commitment to education, culture, and community advancement,” said Dr. Elenora Woods, DDS, FOI, FPFA, President of the Alton Park Development Corporation.
Families, neighbors, and partners across Chattanooga were invited to attend the Juneteenth celebration activities for a day of unity, empowerment, and cultural pride as well as to visit and support the facility during the year.