[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 109 (Thursday, June 22, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2207-S2208]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                               Juneteenth

  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, earlier this week, we commemorated the 
158th Juneteenth, which celebrates the liberation of the last remaining 
enslaved Black Americans at the end of the Civil War. On this date in 
1865, U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger arrived in a Confederate 
outpost in Galveston, TX, where he delivered the news to 250,000 still-
enslaved Texans that all slaves were free.
  Though President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 
1863, the final emancipation of African-American slaves was not reached 
until 2 years later, with the end of the Civil War and then 
ratification of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution.

[[Page S2208]]

  African-American communities have celebrated Juneteenth as 
Emancipation Day as far back as 1886 in Texas, but it was not until 
June 2021 that Congress voted to make Juneteenth a Federal holiday, 
which President Biden signed into law.
  Maryland has had its own complicated history when it comes to the 
abolition of slavery. Indeed, President Lincoln limited the application 
of the Emancipation Proclamation only to States that had seceded from 
the Union during the Civil War. Maryland itself was divided on the 
issue of slavery in the Civil War.
  According to the 1860 census numbers taken before the Civil War, 
Maryland's population contained almost an equal number of free and 
enslaved African Americans. Slavery had deep roots in Southern Maryland 
and Eastern Shore. As described by the University of Maryland historian 
Ira Berlin, the ``Free State'' even saw cases of its own households 
divided, where brothers were fighting in battle on different sides of 
the Civil War.
  Baltimore was growing into a center of trade and industry. It was 
populated by a mostly free workforce, with one of the largest urban 
populations of free Blacks in the United States, larger than in 
Philadelphia or New York, Professor Berlin said. And it was the 
political epicenter of the Maryland abolition movement, with a leading 
newspaper, the Baltimore American, instrumental in the push to end 
slavery.
  But outside the city, in the vast agricultural areas of Southern 
Maryland and the Eastern Shore, slavery was a way of life, much as it 
was in the rest of the White South, where tobacco was giving way to 
labor-intensive crops such as cotton, rice, and sugar.
  Professor Berlin goes on to say:

       Southern Maryland was certainly a southern state; it is 
     agriculture, plantations . . . in some ways it is not much 
     different from Mississippi, both in size and in their 
     lucrative nature. Slaveholders' determination to maintain 
     their human property was a crucial element in the white 
     southern culture.

  Let me just go on and point out, other large swaths of Maryland, from 
Prince George's to Montgomery County, north to Frederick and west, were 
also pro-slavery, although Frederick itself was a divided community.
  After the Civil War broke out, President Lincoln called for soldiers 
to be raised from the militias of the States in order to put down the 
insurrection. According to an account from the National Park Service:

       These troops were to be transported to Washington, D.C., so 
     that they might protect the Capitol. At this time, the most 
     efficient means to transport such large numbers of men was by 
     rail, and the only routes to Washington passed through 
     Baltimore.
       Marylanders were divided in their sympathies. While many 
     disliked the idea of secession, they felt that it was a 
     state's right to secede from the union if it chose to. Many 
     also felt that Maryland should not permit troops to pass 
     through the state to attack a sister state, and others 
     mistrusted the President's intentions, suspecting that the 
     troops would be used to force Maryland to remain in the 
     Union.
       On April 19, 1861, only five days after the surrender of 
     Fort Sumter, the situation in Baltimore exploded into 
     violence. The 6th Massachusetts Infantry arrived at the 
     President Street Station and began the process of changing 
     trains. The cars were disconnected and pulled by horses down 
     Pratt Street to Camden Station. As the process continued, a 
     crowd gathered and with each moment it became more and more 
     unruly. All but two of the cars had been transferred when the 
     crowd blocked the tracks with timbers and anchors.
       The two cars returned to the President Street Station and 
     the soldiers disembarked to the howls and jeers of the mob. 
     The troops then marched back down Pratt Street, led by a man 
     carrying a rebel flag, and followed by the mob. At Gay Street 
     some of the mob began tearing up paving stones and throwing 
     them at the soldiers. Other men were seen brandishing pistols 
     and muskets. Someone fired a shot.
       The frightened officers ordered the troops to fire into the 
     crowd. This angered the mob further, and they began to attack 
     the soldiers with considerable ferocity. Citizens threw 
     stones and bricks and fired shots at the soldiers. The 
     soldiers returned the fire. Rioters, soldiers, and innocent 
     bystanders fell dead and wounded. The Mayor bravely attempted 
     to stop the battle without success. Then the police arrived.
       [Baltimore police intervened and placed policemen] between 
     the two groups and escorted the troops to Camden Station, 
     where they boarded the train and left Baltimore. The Pratt 
     Street Riot was over. The riot resulted in the first casualty 
     list of the war. Eight rioters, one innocent bystander and 
     three soldiers were killed, twenty four soldiers and an 
     unknown number of civilians wounded.

  The city of Baltimore was later placed under military rule, with 
military positions strengthened in Federal Hill and Fort McHenry. As 
you see, we had divided paths in our State and in Baltimore.
  Maryland later very narrowly approved a constitutional amendment in 
1864 which abolished slavery, by a vote of over 30,000 to just under 
30,000. Soldiers voted both in person and by absentee ballot, but 
Marylanders supporting or fighting for the Confederacy who would not 
sign loyalty oaths were not permitted to vote. This amendment took 
effect in November of 1864, just a few months before Congress proposed 
the 13th Amendment to the Constitution in January of 1865, which was 
ratified in December of 1865.
  On a holiday that celebrates our fundamental right to life, liberty, 
and the pursuit of happiness for all Americans, it is important to 
remember that those rights have not and are not always applied equally 
to every American. Redlining, health disparities, police brutality, and 
other areas of disenfranchisement are relics of our Nation's original 
sin and the Jim Crow laws that followed. These inequalities shape the 
African-American experience today.
  Celebrating Juneteenth, or Freedom Day, means not only celebrating 
the victory but also understanding and reconciling with the hard 
truths. This Freedom Day comes at a time when there have been targeted 
attacks on facts and truth. Censoring textbooks, banning conversations 
about race and gender, and misrepresenting the truth systematically 
sanitizes our Nation's history.
  As a society, we must stand together to resist hiding from the 
darkest parts of our past. Confronting a difficult past and having an 
uncomfortable conversation allows us to better address issues of 
inequality head-on so we can move forward, creating a culture of 
inclusion and belonging.
  As we join the country in recognizing the importance of this 
anniversary, we should also celebrate how far we have come. In my home 
State of Maryland, for the first time ever, the first Black Governor, 
the first Black attorney general, and the first Black speaker of the 
house are all serving at the same time. The election of Vice President 
Kamala Harris and the appointment of Supreme Court Justice Jackson show 
that this country more broadly wants to see the diversity of America 
reflected in the highest levels of government.
  Embracing diversity is in the best interest of our country. It is how 
we get landmark legislation like the Civil Rights Act, the Voting 
Rights Act, and President Biden's historic Executive order to advance 
effective, accountable policing and strengthen public safety.
  My faith teaches me that we have a responsibility to make the world a 
better place. That can only be done through civility, understanding, 
and respecting each other. As we come together to participate in a 
longstanding tradition of celebrating freedom, let us also celebrate 
knowledge, hope, and continuing to work toward a more perfect Union and 
a better future for every American as promised by the preamble to our 
Constitution.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. RISCH. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.