In 1861, as the Confederate States seceded from the U.S. and plunged the nation into civil war, some 4 million people of African descent in 15 southern states had only known a life of subjugation that had persisted for generations.

In the aftermath of the Civil War, the 13th Amendment essentially rebuked the dehumanization of an entire race of people:

"Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."

First commemorated in 1949, National Freedom Day recognizes President Lincoln's signing of the 13th amendment abolishing slavery on Feb. 1, 1865. The states later ratified the amendment on Dec. 6, 1865, eight months after Lincoln's assassination. The work to legislate protection for newly emancipated Blacks and reintegrate Southern states into the Union continued during the Reconstruction period (1865 - 1877) under President Andrew Johnson.

For instance, the unprecedented Civil Rights Act of 1866 nullified "black codes" intended to preserve the status quo of slavery. During Reconstruction, the 14th and 15th constitutional amendments passed, respectively granting citizenship and equal rights to Blacks in 1868 and voting rights to Black men in 1870. African-Americans ultimately posed candidacies and won seats in state and federal government.

Hiram Revels (left) along with the African American congressmen who served in the early 1870s. (The Library of Congress)

A prominent example is Hiram R. Revels, the first African-American member of the U.S. Congress. One of sixteen Black men to serve in Congress between 1870 and 1877, Revels represented the state of Mississippi and was seated in the US Senate on February 25, 1870.

But within a decade, opposing forces such as former Confederate leaders and the Ku Klux Klan exacted a violent end to Reconstruction, eroding state government restrictions and the Republican base that protected newly freed Blacks. Southern states also began to revise state constitutions and enforce poll taxes that suppressed blacks from voting and voter registration for years to come.

While the Voting Rights Act of 1965 prohibited racial discrimination in voting, Jim Crow era practices that sanctioned racial segregation have persisted. Present-day attempts to restrict voting rights through voter ID laws, gerrymandering, and voter roll purges have hobbled the 15th Amendment and the 1965 Voting Rights Act, both designed to uphold equal representation and participation in elections.

National Freedom Day 2021 comes nearly a month after the violent Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol that claimed five lives. The modern-day insurrection also threatened the government and constitutional norms as a mob of protesters attacked Capitol, temporarily derailing Congress members' confirmation of President Joseph R. Biden Jr.'s electoral win.

A traumatic episode in American history amid heightened political tension, and a devastating pandemic, Jan. 6 is as much a reminder of our nation's failings as its endurance. Consider another significant event drowned out by the Jan. 6 violence: Reverend Raphael Warnock's victory in one of Georgia's two Senate runoff's on Jan. 5. A lead pastor at the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta — the church where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. served as co-pastor until his assassination in 1968 —Warnock is now Georgia's first Black senator and the second Black Senator to serve a Southern state since Reconstruction. His achievement speaks to the ballot's power and a hopeful outlook for civic participation in the U.S.

National Freedom Day & the legacy of reconstruction