Solstice 2020 - Renewed Vows of Freedom
Africans and Native Americans have longed for freedom since before the founding of America...
The couple stepped forward to make their vows.
He had been in the crucible of slavery. He had worked and plotted and sailed into battle to escape it, unknowingly on a ship bearing his future wife's name. He was one of the lucky ones, more than once.
She had inherited freedom, through the irony of a war of annihilation against her people, a war that created orphans. Her womb was yearning for freedom before the founding of the nation and would help fulfill it's prophecy. Her mind and heart were ready to flourish in togetherness.
It was June 21st, the longest day of the year, and a reminder to plant and harvest against colder less fruitful days. The Sun was high on their special day, as it swung in its course through the centuries, and toward anniversaries to come. The next day, the cool blackness of an eclipse would be a reminder of how fleeting both freedom and life can be and how vital love.
On the solstice in 1749, Mary Drake and Gambo, free negroes, were married. While their vows are unknown, they lasted over 42 years. Mary, died in 1791, the year Thomas Jefferson was challenged on the Bill of Rights for not being extended to slaves. Gambo died in 1794, the year the first Slave trade Act was passed by Congress. Slavery nonetheless persisted. While they were both free, many during and after there lifetimes were not.
Everything under the sun America, seems to appear in cycles. A solar symphony marking years, joined by new choruses is calling on America to renew its vows, to amplify them and to extend them to all, to eclipse both lingering affects and new manifestations of slavery with freedom.
The couple stepped forward to make their vows.
He had been in the crucible of slavery. He had worked and plotted and sailed into battle to escape it, unknowingly on a ship bearing his future wife's name. He was one of the lucky ones, more than once.
She had inherited freedom, through the irony of a war of annihilation against her people, a war that created orphans. Her womb was yearning for freedom before the founding of the nation and would help fulfill it's prophecy. Her mind and heart were ready to flourish in togetherness.
It was June 21st, the longest day of the year, and a reminder to plant and harvest against colder less fruitful days. The Sun was high on their special day, as it swung in its course through the centuries, and toward anniversaries to come. The next day, the cool blackness of an eclipse would be a reminder of how fleeting both freedom and life can be and how vital love.
On the solstice in 1749, Mary Drake and Gambo, free negroes, were married. While their vows are unknown, they lasted over 42 years. Mary, died in 1791, the year Thomas Jefferson was challenged on the Bill of Rights for not being extended to slaves. Gambo died in 1794, the year the first Slave trade Act was passed by Congress. Slavery nonetheless persisted. While they were both free, many during and after there lifetimes were not.
Everything under the sun America, seems to appear in cycles. A solar symphony marking years, joined by new choruses is calling on America to renew its vows, to amplify them and to extend them to all, to eclipse both lingering affects and new manifestations of slavery with freedom.
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