By Don Rhodes II | The Birmingham Times
As the nation commemorated Juneteenth, the historic day marking the end of slavery in the United States, Birmingham stands as a powerful reminder of the ongoing fight for freedom, said Barry McNealy, historical content expert at the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, on Thursday, said during a day of festivities at the institute.
McNealy, who also teaches history at A.H. Parker High School, shared his reflections on the significance of Juneteenth and how it resonates deeply with the city’s legacy.
“Birmingham is a testament to freedom, and to the idea that people once believed it would never come,” he said. “From 1937 to 1963, Bull Connor (the public safety commissioner for the city of Birmingham) ruled this city with an iron hand. People used to say, ‘If Connor couldn’t get you with the police by day, he’d get you with the Klan by night.’”
But hope pushed back against oppression, McNealy said. “When Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth, Reverend Ralph Abernathy, and Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. came here in 1963, they brought an energy that overcame Bull Connor and the most segregated city in America,” McNealy said. “Just as enslaved people in Texas never thought they’d be free, many in Birmingham never believed they could be equal. And yet, look at what happened.”
The historian detailed how the holiday got started.
“Juneteenth, June 19th, 1865 when General Gordon Granger moved west and issued General Order No. 3 was monumental,” McNealy explained. “During the Civil War, many Confederates took their enslaved people westward to avoid the reach of the Emancipation Proclamation. When Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, with mostly Black Union troops, the announcement of freedom was so powerful that the people began celebrating right then and there.”
McNealy sees Juneteenth not only as a commemoration, but also as a teaching moment.
“Working here (at the BCRI), I’ve been able to learn more than I knew before,” he said. “The thing about this history is that it’s multifaceted and multilayered. No one knows all of it. But we introduce people to it.”
Each visitor brings an opportunity for shared growth, McNealy said. “As I learn [about Juneteenth and Birmingham] I and share it with people that come here, the more I share, the more I learn.”
“And as we’re learning to be inspired,” he said, “we also have to learn to protect it. There are those who would scrub, change, and hide this history. But this history can’t help us if we hide it.”
Reflecting on the broader meaning of Juneteenth and Black history, he closed with: “We have to understand that Black history is American history. This country’s story is inspirational to people around the world. We need to learn that we can be inspired by it, too.”
