Persevere
TODAY’S READING: Ephesians 6:12–18
Our struggle is not against flesh and blood. -Ephesians 6:12
I stood among thousands quietly gathering in the shadow of the Washington Monument for the Prayer Walk for Peace and Justice. We followed the example of the peaceful civil rights marches of the 1960s against social injustice and police violence that have continued to plague our country.
As the apostle Paul…
“Grand Lady” Liberator
TODAY’S READING: Judges 4:4–10
Deborah also went up with him. -Judges 4:10
Young Ella’s grandfather propped her onto his pulpit chair situated between two smaller ones in his rural North Carolinian Baptist church. To her mother’s dismay, Ella’s ascendancy sent novice visiting ministers scurrying to find the next-best seat of honor. Her grandfather—a proud, formerly enslaved, part-landowner of his old plantation—nicknamed her “Grand Lady,”…
Rest and Relief
TODAY’S READING: Matthew 11:25–30
I will give you rest. -Matthew 11:28
Union Major General Gordon Granger entered Galveston, Texas, June 18, 1865, bringing “General Order No. 3,” and ending slavery in Texas. When he publicly issued this declaration, including at an African American church the next day, celebrations multiplied.
Formerly enslaved persons cheered their freedom and new lives. Although this freedom was imperfect and oppression…
Freedom in Truth
TODAY’S READING: John 8:25–34
Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. -John 8:32
By June 18, 1865, the Blacks enslaved in Texas had been free for two and a half years, but they did not know it.
The Emancipation Proclamation signed by President Abraham Lincoln had declared them free on January 1, 1863. But no one told them. So,…
Victorious in Freedom
TODAY’S READING: Romans 8:31–39
Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. -Galatians 5:1
Forward vision and resilient ambition were on full display during the Reconstruction era (1865–1877) following Juneteenth.
Black people across the nation pursued swift changes to transform their lives and their country. Newly freed slaves in the state of Texas sustained momentum, joining the…