Thread by @KathrynAnnette, Despite not being included as those entitled to "life, liberty, and the [...]

Despite not being included as those entitled to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," many great African Americans firmly believed in the principles espoused on July 4, 1776. In fact, many spent their lives trying to make those ideals true. A THREAD

"Our freedom to worship has been crucial to our ability to resist the evils of white supremacy and systemic racism in this country."--me, on the religious freedom and the Black church https://medium.com/@BJContheHill/juneteenth-and-the-promise-of-religious-freedom-e5d922a6c1ce

Juneteenth and the Promise of Religious Freedom

By 2017 BJC Fellow Kathryn Freeman

https://medium.com/@BJContheHill/juneteenth-and-the-promise-of-religious-freedom-e5d922a6c1ce

"I will, in the name of the constitution & the Bible which are disregarded & trampled upon... dare to call in question and to denounce, everything that serves to perpetuate slavery the great sin & shame of America!"-Frederick Douglass
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4h2927t.html

"A Negro, [Crispus Attacks] was the pioneer of that liberty which the American people hold so dear. England tried all through the revolutionary war to make us traitors to our country, but failed; we stood firm then & are firm still."-Henry Neale Turner

http://www.thehenrymcnealturnerproject.org/2019/03/synopsis-on-january-1st-1866-henry.html

"Men of darker hue have no rights which white men are bound to respect. And it is this narrow, contracted, contemptible, undemocratic idea of democracy that we have been fighting to make the world safe for..."-Pastor Francis Grimke on World War I https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/1918-rev-francis-j-grimke-victory-allies-and-united-states-ground-rejoicing-thanksgiving/

(1918) Rev. Francis J. Grimke, "Victory for the Allies and the United States a Ground of Rejoicing,...

Francis J. Grimke was born a slave in Charleston, South Carolina on November 4, 1850. After the war he and his older brother, Archibald, went north to Lincoln University. Francis graduated from...

https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/1918-rev-francis-j-grimke-victory-allies-and-united-states-ground-rejoicing-thanksgiving/

"Is this America, the land of the free and the home of the brave, where we have to sleep with our telephones off the hooks because our lives be threatened daily, because we want to live as decent human beings, in America?"-Fannie Lou Hamer
http://americanradioworks.publicradio.org/features/sayitplain/flhamer.html

"When the architects of our republic wrote the Constitution & the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note...it is obvious that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned."-Dr. King

"My faith in the Constitution is whole; it is complete..."-former Congresswoman Barbara Jordan
https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/barbarajordanjudiciarystatement.html

I'll close w/ this line from @nhannahjones introductory essay for the 1619 project

"Black people have seen the worst of America, yet, somehow, we still believe in its best."

Happy Independence Day! https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/14/magazine/black-history-american-democracy.html

America Wasn’t a Democracy, Until Black Americans Made It One

Our founding ideals of liberty and equality were false when they were written. For generations, black Americans have fought to make them true.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/14/magazine/black-history-american-democracy.html

You can follow @KathrynAnnette.

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