And it shall be when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What is this? that thou shalt say unto him, By strength of hand the Lord brought us out from Egypt, from the house of bondage. Exodus 13:14.
Watch Night Service is more than something to do instead of partying. It is at once both an act of obedience and of commemoration of two miraculous occurrences for all Americans, but especially for Americans of the African diaspora who wish to witness to a dying world about the saving power of Jesus Christ. Some critical dates illuminate that.
1807 The U.S. Congress prohibited the importation of slaves, effective January 1, 1808. (206 years ago-that’s just 10 generations.)
1862 The Emancipation Proclamation was signed, freeing all slaves residing in the states which seceded from the Union, effective January 1, 1863. (151 years ago-that’s just 7 generations!)
It could be argued that we, Americans of the African diaspora, who have been watching and waiting and celebrating the revolutionary Jesus Christ, are the best examples of God’s matchless grace, mercy and unfailing faithfulness and therefore we should be His best and most effective witnesses. Is there a better example of God’s ability to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us? Ephesians 3:20. The story of our diaspora is no less thrilling than that of the children of Israel. But to illuminate and validate that statement we have to understand the history of this great nation and our unique role in it. We have to know what God has done, for knowing is part of wisdom. And the more we remember and repeat what we know, the greater our understanding becomes. Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding. Proverbs 4:7.
Africans in the Americas: Historical Facts & Legal Controversy. We need to know the political history surrounding the diaspora of the children of Israel to understand the greatness of their Old Testament deliverance. By the same token our knowledge of the political history surrounding our diaspora will help us understand what God has done for us.
1493 The foundation of the transatlantic slave trade began with Christopher Columbus’ 2nd voyage to the so-called “New World”;
1619 African slaves provided the free labor essential to the economic development and stability of European business interests in the Caribbean as well as North, South and Central America;
1776 At the start of the American Revolution 500,000 Africans were enslaved in the 13 colonies, including more than 30,000 in New York and New Jersey;
1793 Congress passed The Fugitive Slave Act allowing the capture of all escaped slaves and levying fines of $500 for all who gave aid;
1803 Slavery was abolished in the Ohio territory; Ohio entered the Union as a free state. In the same year the U.S. purchased Louisiana from France, extending federal (as opposed to state) sovereignty to a poorly defined territory west of the Mississippi River;
1804 U.S. took possession of the territory that is now Missouri;
1808 Importation of slaves declared illegal in the United States;
1810 The domestic slave population within the United States grew to 1.1M;
1812 Louisiana entered the Union as a slave state;
1816-1861 14 new states entered the Union; 9 Free States, 5 Slave States;
1820 Congress admitted Missouri as a slave state expanding the controversy between free and slave states. The Missouri Compromise admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state thus maintaining the balance between free and slave states. The Missouri Compromise dictated no territories above 36 degrees by 30 degrees latitude could enter the Union as slave states, hence Missouri became the nexus between freedom and slavery;
1820-1860 Slave rebellions included legal battles with 292 petitions filed in St. Louis courts alone-the most famous (or infamous), the 11 year Dred Scott case stretching from 1846-1858.
THE DRED SCOTT CASE 1799 Dred Scott was born in Virginia, a slave to the Peter Blow family; 1830 The Blow family moved to St. Louis and sold then 31 year-old Dred Scott to Dr. Emerson, a military surgeon stationed at Jefferson Barracks. During the next 12 years Dred Scott traveled with Dr. Emerson to Illinois and the Wisconsin territory –where slavery was prohibited by the Missouri Compromise. Dred Scott married Harriet Robinson, also a slave, and they had two children; 1842 Scott family returned to St. Louis with Dr. Emerson and his wife Irene; 1843 Dr. Emerson died, Irene Emerson “hired out” Mr. and Mrs. Dred Scott and their children; 1846 Dred Scott, then 46, and his wife sued Irene for their freedom in St. Louis Circuit Court; 1847 Circuit Court ruled in favor of Irene Emerson; 1850 Scotts re-filed, a jury ruled in their favor based on their past residence in the free territories of Wisconsin and Illinois. Dred Scott was then 51; 1852 Irene appealed to Missouri Supreme Court and won. The Scotts were returned to slavery; 1853 Dred Scott filed in U.S. Federal Court in St. Louis and again lost; 1856 Dred Scott appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court and lost. The Court held (a) Scott was NOT a U.S. citizen; (b) Scott was NOT eligible to sue in federal court; (c) Scott was NOT a person, he was personal property and was NEVER free. The Court held the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional in prohibiting slavery in the territories; 1857 Irene Emerson remarried, her new husband opposed slavery, she returned the Scotts to the Blow family, their original “owners.” They “gave” the Scotts their freedom; 1858 Dred Scott died of Tuberculosis. He was 59 years old;
1860 Abraham Lincoln was elected President. There were now 3.9M slaves in the United States. S. Carolina seceded from the Union and the Civil War began.
1862 Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing all slaves in the seceding states, effective January 1, 1863.
INTRODUCTION TO LINCOLN’S EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION Lincoln and the North entered the war to preserve the Union rather than to free the slaves, but within a relatively short time emancipation became an accepted war aim. Neither Congress nor the president knew exactly what constitutional powers they had in this area; according to the Dred Scott decision, they had none. But Lincoln believed that the Constitution gave the Union whatever powers it needed to preserve itself, and that he, as commander-in-chief, had the authority to use those powers.
In the fall of 1862, after the Union army victory at Antietam, Lincoln issued a preliminary proclamation, warning that on January 1, 1863, he would free all slaves in seceding states still in rebellion. Intended as a war and propaganda measure, the Emancipation Proclamation had more symbolic than real impact because the federal government had no means to enforce it at the time. But the document clearly and irrevocably notified the South and the world that the war was being fought not just to preserve the Union, but to put an end to the peculiar institution. Eventually, as Union armies occupied more and more southern territory, the Proclamation turned into reality, as thousands of slaves were set free by the advancing federal troops.
The Emancipation Proclamation ended de jure or legal slavery within the southern states that seceded from the Union. The Union victory expanded that de jure emancipation across the nation. However de facto slavery persisted during Reconstruction from 1863-1877, and debt bondage also known as share-cropping, maintained de facto slave conditions with supporting court rulings from 1903-1944.
Despite the Supreme Court’s best efforts, despite almost 400 years of enslavement, despite President Lincoln’s half-hearted efforts at emancipation-Jesus Christ delivered us out of bondage 151 years ago. More than that, He has allowed us to illustrate His teachings of forgiveness and reconciliation as we continue here in the land of our oppression.
The Watch Night Services celebrated in Black communities today can be traced to those first gatherings on December 31, 1862, also known as Freedom’s Eve. All across this nation, Blacks came together in churches and private homes anxiously awaiting news that the Emancipation Proclamation actually had become law. At the stroke of midnight, it was January 1, 1863, and all slaves in the Confederate States were declared legally free. There were prayers, shouts and songs of joy as people fell to their knees and thanked God. We, Americans of the original African diaspora, the most visible and viable group of involuntary immigrants, upon whose backs and in whose blood all later immigrants from around the world have stood and prospered, have gathered in churches annually on New Year’s Eve ever since, praising God for bringing us safely through another year. We are here thanking God for His marvelous works and we are sharing this knowledge with our children so that they will not be destroyed for lack of knowledge. Hosea 4:6. But along with thanksgiving, our coming together and recounting His mighty works is an act of obedience. God is a jealous God and He demands at least as much recognition and acknowledgement from us, the Redeemed, as He did from the children of Israel. And when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What mean the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments, which the Lord our God hath commanded you? Then thou shalt say unto thy son, We were Pharaoh’s bondmen in Egypt; and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. Deuteronomy 6:20.
In 2010 we commemorated 100 years of continuous worship here at The Church of Christ of the Apostolic Faith. For my family, that’s five generations, and I am thankful for such an amazing blessing!-but what I find even more amazing is the fact that when my maternal great-grandparents, Hattie and Edward Edwards, migrated to Columbus from Bluefield, West Virginia and joined others of like precious faith in this congregation, slavery had only been abolished for 48 years!
O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in Him. Psalm 34:8.