Morning, pals! In case you’re unaware, today is Juneteenth, the holiday that celebrates when, in 1865, Union Troops finally were able to tell enslaved Americans that, hey, this shit is over, and that they were finally free. Emancipation Day, in other words. Anyway, David and I decided this is a Big Deal so we gave our huge writing staff of two people– a number that is undeniably plural – the day off. David and I will still be here, because we know the holiday isn’t one that a lot of people get off, but keep in mind output will be lower today than normal, with fewer stories. But we will have some!
Also, that car up there is known as The Warrior, and it’s a one-off built by McKinley Thompson, Jr., the first black automotive designer to work for a major American automaker, in this case Ford, starting in 1956. The Warrior was a little home-built side project of his, and I think it’s fantastic. It’s rear-engined, built on a Renault 10 chassis – an excellent starting point, I think, the R10 is a very underrated car – and was designed to be amphibious.
It’s like a four-seater amphibious dune buggy, with what appears to be a good-sized trunk. The ultimate fun car. This should have become a sensation, piling friends into these every summer weekend and belly-flopping into lakes.
Maybe someday.
(pic from Henry Ford Museum)
I ran across an article over the weekend that said the proclamation by the union general wasn’t to tell the slaves they were free. They had already heard about the Emancipation Proclamation and knew the war was over. According to the article, General Orders No. 3 (aka the Juneteenth Order) was more about telling the slave owners that the slaves were free and had to be paid for any work they continued to do. The “We’re Texas, FUCK YOU!” attitude was on display and the owners were acting as if nothing had changed prior to then.
Bit of a contrast with the UK, when we banned slavery (in 1833) the main issue was paying compensation to the slave *owners*. That cost so much money the loans were only paid off in 2015.
So some of my taxes went into paying off slavers, great 🙁
>today is Juneteenth, the holiday that celebrates when, in 1865, Union Troops finally were able to tell enslaved Americans that, hey, this shit is over, and that they were finally free. Emancipation Day, in other words.
I would just like to point out that while it’s true that this is the day that it was over for enslaved Americans in the rebelling states, this is not true for enslaved Americans in loyal slavery states – states being Missouri, Maryland, and Kentucky and Delaware. For enslaved persons in Kentucky and Delaware, the date of freedom was not until December 1865 (half a year later) when the 13th amendment was ratified by 3/4 of all states. Missouri and Maryland both ratified almost immediately, while Delaware and Kentucky both rejected ratification and did not ratify officially until 1901 and 1976 (?!?!), respectively.
A far more in depth story here. And just wow.
https://www.thehenryford.org/explore/blog/mckinley-thompson-jr.-designer-maker-aspiring-entrepreneur
I have the day off, thanks President Lincoln! Petersen Museum also has a car relevant to the day:
https://www.petersen.org/blog/corwin-prototype-displayed-at-petersen-is-notable-piece-of-black-history
Whenever your staff gets back in, I expect a full write-up on the car pictured. You should know better than to flash a picture of something that wacky and only throw us a couple details!
“Anyway, David and I decided this is a Big Deal so we gave our huge writing staff of two people– a number that is undeniably plural –…”
So, do you hold staff meetings in Jason’s Pao?
What a wonderful opportunity to explain WTF with the blue haired mannequin. Seriously, I’ve checked in on that waiting for some clarification more times than is reasonable. It’s a frigging brain worm.
Very cool looking car. The ’70s were probably peak fun car period, with the Moke moving production to Australia, the Citroen Mehari and the new to the ’70s Renault Rodeo among others. All very neat little runabouts.
Back in December my employer announced that Juneteenth was being added to our paid holidays. Neat!
A week later they informed us we were losing a PTO day to compensate for the new holiday.
I couldn’t help but chuckle at the irony of losing a little freedom to celebrate it.
As a prior member of management a day everyone gets off is easier to deal with than having everyone come and wants tomorrow off.
Isn’t Juneteenth on the 19th though?
You are correct about the day being the 19th, but since it is now a FEDERAL (Wow) Holiday, some people actually get Monday off. Oh not me however, I’ll be at work later today!
In addition to that, some states are debating on when to celebrate it. For instance, here in Florida they are thinking about May 20th as that’s when the proclamation freeing all salves in Florida was posted.
Kinda a silly way to go about it, but makes about as much sense as what the rest of our state govt is doing over here.
I wouldn’t put it past De Santis to order everyone to pull a double shift on Juneteenth instead of a day off, TBH.
Huh lucky people I guess. I am not among them either.
Hell how many federal holidays are there now? They don’t do much work when they go to the office and they get more days off then teachers.
We have fewer holidays than mud-slinging peasants of the dark ages. Feel advanced now society?
Wish I had the day off. I love the South, but I also hate it.
“Yeah, America’s great, isn’t it? Except for the South”-
Peter Griffin
Funny I’ve lived in the south. South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, and Florida. Never in a big city. Racism definitely exists but I’ve never seen the degree of racism and hatred in these areas than I’ve seen in California and the so called progressive NE. Also lived in California, Connecticut, Vermont and Pennsylvania. BUT if it makes you feel good about yourself I’m okay with that. For the most part I enjoyed the company of the people that lived their and was accepted with open arms. And I’m really not that likeable. Lol
Yeah, kinda this. I’ve lived in the SF bay area my whole life and the whole progressive liberal thing is true enough here, and probably in most of the other major population centers, but most of the state is… Lets say “unenthusiastic” about being lumped in with us. Look up the State of Jefferson to get an idea. No population is a monolith and regressive fundamentalism isn’t a uniquely southern thing.
As a follow Ohioan I second this. It’s just depressing, sickening and gross.
Yeah it’s good to know that racial inequality and other forms of discrimination have been compltely eliminated literally everywhere else. Just us ignorant hillbillys down here in the backwards south!
he’s not wrong.
It’s getting better but yeah it’s a strange place when you’ve lived elsewhere.
Back in the 90s I lived in SW Virginia, where instead of Martin Luther King Jr day, they celebrated “Lee-Jackson-King” day, like officially that was the day, 2 leaders of the Confederates, oh and the government made an official day about the civil rights leader so we’ll celebrate him too. It was just bizarre, like 1) why are you celebrating those 2 guys birthday? and 2, you know what the 3rd guy was still fighting for like 100 years after those other 2 guys fought against it right? And 3, your state borders the federal capital! and I could just go on but yeah, strange place.
It’s a really strange place, although I’ve never been denied a job based *only* on my sexually (the guy freely admitted it: “I cant have a gay guy working here, everone would quit!”, nor have I been asked to join a Neo-Nazi group (before I was “out” obviously), nor invited to participate in a hate crime, all of which occurred when I lived Washington state.
Funny, my friends living north of Seattle had to work today, too.
Oh, this is going to be a fun day! Hopefully, there should already be a few stories in the can regarding Ralph Gilles and Ed Welburn. You know, the whole tie-in to the Juneteenth thing. Actually, at some point one of the two founders (David & Jason) need to interview Welburn. I really want to know how he signed off on the 6th generation Camaro.
Because…
This Black Man needs to know how that Black Man signed off on that car!
Go knock on his door!
Pronto!
Enjoy the day off gentlemen. We as fans of this great new site can enjoy rereading some old articles. Stories about obscure taillights and the woes of a man destined to live in one of his broken cars full time.
Again, enjoy the day off…..
Well, David and I will get some stuff up, but Mercedes and Thomas will be off.
Wait-a-minute. WhaBout Mark?
I’m just freelance. I wrote a fascinating, witty, and brilliant edition of Shitbox Showdown for today, but nobody told me I didn’t need to. Maybe they’re saving it for tomorrow.