Juneteenth and the Cable Chain Stitch

click the photos to make them larger

This week's TAST stitch was the cable chain stitch and it's a pretty easy stitch that goes quickly.  I used 6 strands of silver metallic thread and 6 strands of black cotton floss for the 2 areas of cable chains.  I was originally going to use just the metallic but as much as I had to fight with it to do the small amount you see, I decided it was not going to happen to use it for all the chains.

I worked the border as a broken chain for obvious reasons as you will see below.

My subject this week turned out to be very serendipitous.  Tuesday was June 19th, known as Juneteenth hereabouts.  It's hard to read the embroidery in the photo so here's what it says:

The Emancipation Proclamation took effect Jan. 1, 1863 but it had very little effect on slaves lives in the Confederate States of America.

JUNETEENTH

Commemorates June 18 & 19, 1865

On the 18th, Union General G. Granger and 2000 Federal troops arrived at the port of Galveston, Texas to take possession of the state and enforce emancipation. On the 19th the General stood on the balcony of the Ashton Villa to read the General Order No. 3.

The order reads as follows:  

"The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free.  This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor.  The freedmen are advised to remain quietly at their present homes and work for wages.  They are informed that they will not be allowed to collect at military posts and that they will not be supported in idleness either there or elsewhere."

Juneteenth is recognized as a state holiday in 41 states and there have been celebrations since the beginning.

This symbol I used is an anti-slavery design.  The more familiar one is of a man and carries the motto 'Am I not a man and a brother?"  This one, used less widely is of a woman and her motto is "Am I not a woman and a sister?"  I thought it more appropriate for a woman's embroidery journal.