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BlackFacts Minute: January 1

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Black Facts for January 1st

1914 - Aba Women's Riots (November-December 1929)

The riots or the war, led by women in the provinces of Calabar and Owerri in southeastern Nigeria in November and December of 1929, became known as the Aba Womens Riots of 1929 in British colonial history, or as the Womens War in Igbo history.  Thousands of Igbo women organized a massive revolt against the policies imposed by British colonial administrators in southeastern Nigeria, touching off the most serious challenge to British rule in the history of the colony.  The Womens War took months for the government to suppress and became a historic example of feminist and anti-colonial protest.       

The roots of the riots evolved from January 1, 1914, when the first Nigerian colonial governor, Lord Lugard, instituted the system of indirect rule in Southern Nigeria.  Under this plan British administrators would rule locally through warrant chiefs, essentially Igbo individuals appointed by the governor.  Traditionally Igbo chiefs had been elected.   

Within a few years the appointed warrant chiefs became increasingly oppressive.  They seized property, imposed draconian local regulations, and began imprisoning anyone who openly criticized them.  Although much of the anger was directed against the warrant chiefs, most Nigerians knew the source of their power, British colonial administrators.  Colonial administrators added to the local sense of grievance when they announced plans to impose special taxes on the Igbo market women.  These women were responsible for supplying the food to the growing urban populations in Calabar, Owerri, and other Nigerian cities.  They feared the taxes would drive many of the market women out of business and seriously disrupt the supply of food and non-perishable goods available to the populace.  

In November of 1929, thousands of Igbo women congregated at the Native Administration centers in Calabar and Owerri as well as smaller towns to protest both the warrant chiefs and the taxes on the market women.  Using the traditional practice of censoring men through all night song

1997 - Annan, Kofi A. (1938-- )

Kofi Atta Annan, born on 8 April 1938 in Kumasi, Ghana, served as the seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN) between 1997 and 2007.  As a young man, Annan finished his undergraduate studies in economics at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1961.  He then completed his graduate level work, also in economics, at the Institut universitaire des hautes études internationales in Geneva, Switzerland from 1961 to 1962.  Annan returned to the United States, and earned a Master of Science degree in management in 1972 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).  Annan fluently speaks French, English, and a number of African languages.  

Kofi Annan joined the United Nations in 1962 when he went to work for the World Health Organization.  Since then he has been involved with the United Nations in a number of different branches, including the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and the UN Emergency Force in Ismailia. Annan was assigned to UN Headquarters in New York where he worked with issues ranging from human resources management to peacekeeping.  

On January 1, 1997, Kofi Annan became the Secretary-General of the United Nations.  He served a second five year term beginning in 2002. Annan is the first Secretary-General to have been appointed from a UN staff position.  In 2005, he helped establish two new bodies within the UN; the Peacebuilding Commission and the Human Rights Council.  His involvement with peacekeeping is vast, as he has played key roles in a number of international negotiations.  In 1996, he facilitated negotiations with Baghdad, Iraq in regards to their oil sales as funding humanitarian relief.  In 1999, he played an important role in helping ease tensions between Libya and the UN Security Council,  During the same period he also persuaded the international community to focus on the violence that was occurring in East Timor.  Two years later, in 2000, he helped facilitate Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon.    

Annans years at the UN have focused on creating relationships

2013 - St. Kitts and Nevis

St. Kitts, the larger of the two islands, is roughly oval in shape except for a long, narrow peninsula to the southeast. Its highest point is Mount Liamuiga (3,792 ft [1,156 m]). The Narrows, a 2-mile- (3-km-) wide channel, separates the two islands. The circularly shaped Nevis is surrounded by coral reefs and the island is almost entirely a single mountain, Nevis Peak (3,232 ft [985 m]). A volcanic mountain chain dominates the center of both islands.

Constitutional monarchy.

When Christopher Columbus explored the islands in 1493, they were inhabited by the Carib people. Today, most of the inhabitants are the descendants of African slaves. The British settled on St. Kitts—formerly St. Christopher—in 1623, and on Nevis in 1628. The French settled on St. Kitts in 1627, and an Anglo-French rivalry lasted for more than 100 years. After a decisive British victory over the French at Brimstone Hill in 1782, the islands came under permanent British control. The islands, along with nearby Anguilla, were united in 1882. They joined the West Indies Federation in 1958 and remained in that association until its dissolution in 1962. St. Kitts–Nevis-Anguilla became an associated state of the United Kingdom in 1967. Anguilla seceded in 1980, and St. Kitts and Nevis gained independence on Sept. 19, 1983.

A drop in world sugar prices hurt the nations economy through the mid-1980s, and the government sought to reduce the islands dependence on sugar production and to diversify the economy, promoting tourism and financial services. In 1990, the prime minister of Nevis announced that he intended to seek an end to the federation with St. Kitts by 1992, but a local election in June 1992 postponed the idea. In Aug. 1998, 62% of the population voted for Nevis to secede, but the vote fell short of the two-thirds majority required.

The country had been blacklisted by various international financial agencies for improprieties in its off-shore financial-services industry, but by 2002, it had been removed from all such lists.

On January 1,

1863 - African-American history

African-American history is the part of American history that looks at the African-American or Black American ethnic groups in the United States. Most African Americans are the descendants of Africans forcibly brought to and held captive in the United States from 1555 to 1865. Blacks from the Caribbean whose ancestors immigrated, or who immigrated to the U.S., have also traditionally been considered African-American, as they share a common history of predominantly West African or Central African roots, the Middle Passage and slavery.

African Americans have been known by various names throughout American history, including colored and Negro, which are no longer accepted in English. Instead the most usual and accepted terms nowadays are African American and Black, which however may have different connotations (see African American#Terminology). The term person of color usually refers not only to African Americans, but also to other non-white ethnic groups. Others who sometimes are referred to as African Americans, and who may identify themselves as such in US government censuses, include relatively recent Black immigrants from Africa, South America and elsewhere.

African-American history is celebrated and highlighted annually in the United States during February, designated as Black History Month. Although previously marginalized, African-American history has gained ground in school and university curricula and gained wider scholarly attention since the late 20th century.

Most African Americans are descended from Africans brought directly from Africa as slaves. Originally these slaves were captured in African wars or raids and transported in the Atlantic slave trade.[1] African Americans are descended from various ethnic groups, mostly from western and central Africa, including the Sahel. A smaller number came from eastern and southeastern Africa. The major ethnic groups that the enslaved Africans belonged to included the Hausa, Bakongo, Igbo, Mandé, Wolof, Akan, Fon, Yoruba, and Makua, among many others.

2005 - Shirley Chisholm

Shirley Chisholm , née Shirley Anita St. Hill (born November 30, 1924, Brooklyn, New York, U.S.—died January 1, 2005, Ormond Beach, Florida), American politician, the first African American woman to be elected to the U.S. Congress.

Shirley St. Hill was the daughter of immigrants; her father was from British Guiana (now Guyana) and her mother from Barbados. She grew up in Barbados and in her native Brooklyn, New York, and graduated from Brooklyn College (B.A., 1946). While teaching nursery school and serving as director of the Friends Day Nursery in Brooklyn, she studied elementary education at Columbia University (M.A., 1952) and married Conrad Q. Chisholm in 1949 (divorced 1977). An education consultant for New York City’s day-care division, she was also active with community and political groups, including the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and her district’s Unity Democratic Club. In 1964–68 she represented her Brooklyn district in the New York state legislature.

In 1968 Chisholm was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, defeating the civil rights leader James Farmer. In Congress she quickly became known as a strong liberal who opposed weapons development and the war in Vietnam and favoured full-employment proposals. As a candidate for the Democratic nomination for U.S. president in 1972, she won 152 delegates before withdrawing from the race.

Chisholm, a founder of the National Women’s Political Caucus, supported the Equal Rights Amendment and legalized abortions throughout her congressional career, which lasted from 1969 to 1983. She wrote the autobiographical works Unbought and Unbossed (1970) and The Good Fight (1973).

After her retirement from Congress, Chisholm remained active on the lecture circuit. She held the position of Purington Professor at Mount Holyoke College (1983–87) and was a visiting scholar at Spelman College (1985). In 1993 she was invited by President Bill Clinton to serve as ambassador to Jamaica but declined because of poor health.

1854 - From Slave to Litigant: African Americans in Court in the Post-Civil War South

In the following article Melissa Milewski, a graduate student in history at New York University, describes her research which has uncovered the surprising success of African American litigants in court cases in the post-Civil War South.

As slaves, black southerners were treated only as property to be bought or sold in civil cases.  Then, during the Civil War and Reconstruction, in a revolution that shook the nation, slaves were emancipated and black men granted the vote.  Yet another important transformation has been overlooked: black southerners’ increased access to state courts after the Civil War.  During Reconstruction, former slaves brought civil cases against their former masters in southern courts and frequently won these cases.  Although in many ways the revolutionary changes wrought by Reconstruction were short-lived, long after political Reconstruction had ended and white northerners turned a blind eye to the increasingly racist regimes of the U.S. South, black southerners continued their struggles in state courts.  Even as they lost a number of high profile suits dealing with racial discrimination, they frequently won seemingly prosaic civil suits over transactions, wills, and property.  Indeed, I found that black litigants won the majority of civil cases litigated against white southerners in higher state courts – not only during Reconstruction, but, astonishingly, during the post-Reconstruction and Jim Crow eras as well.  Through such cases, African Americans continued to exercise the legal rights gained during Reconstruction long after that revolutionary moment had ended.

Approximately half of the civil appellate suits I examined between 1865 and 1900 involved former slaves and the heirs of their former masters.  Such cases illuminate the interactions of black and white southerners who had known one another for years as their lives shifted around them.  At times, such cases continued suits litigated over master’s wills in the antebellum South.  In September 1853, for instance, three slaves,

1892 - (1899) Rev. D. A. Graham, “Some Facts About Southern Lynchings,”

Little is known about Reverend D. A. Graham, the A.M.E. minister who delivered the speech that appears below.  However the ministers words were recorded as part of a nationwide protest in 1899 against lynchings of African Americans across the nation.  In May of 1899 the newly formed African American Council issued a proclamation calling upon black Americans to set apart Friday, June 2, as a day of fasting and prayer. Special exercises were to be held in black churches across the nation the following Sunday, as a protest against lynching.  On June 4, Reverend Graham delivered his sermon at Bethel A.M.E. Church in Indianapolis as part of the protest.  The sermon, reprinted in the Indianapolis Recorder, a local African American newspaper, appears below.

The American Negro is afflicted, and the cause of his affliction is a most unreasonable and silly prejudice in the white Americans. If the hatred were reversed it would seem more reasonable, since the Caucasian has suffered nothing from the Negro, while the latter has suffered everything at the hands of the Caucasian.

While this prejudice is greatest in the South, it also manifests itself greatly to the affliction of the colored man in the North. When he wants to buy property or rent a house he is often turned away because of his color. When he seeks employment where help is advertised for, he is told that Negroes need not apply. Our girls cannot get employment in shops, stores or factories, no matter how well educated, refined and good looking.  Naturally, this causes many to fall into evil ways and makes dishonest men of youth who with a mans chance would have become honorable and industrious citizens. 

When we cross Mason and Dixons line the evil shows itself at every turn. Separate waiting rooms, separate ticket windows, separate cars, nothing to eat at any lunch counter. Refused admission to churches, cemeteries and even parks. Parks and cemeteries are placarded Negroes and dogs not admitted. The effect of such proscription is most baneful as well

2014 - List of African-American women in STEM fields

^ Rowley, Dorothy (2014-01-01). Lockheed Martins Stephanie Hill wins Black Engineering Award. Washington Informer. Archived from the original on 2015-02-23. Retrieved 2015-02-23.

^ de Vise, Daniel. Why the nation needs more female engineers. The Washington Post – College, Inc. Retrieved 2015-02-23.

^ Brown, Jeannette E. (2012). African American women chemists. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 108–111. ISBN 9780199742882.

^ Sullivan, Otha Richard (2002). African American women scientists and inventors. Black stars. New York: Wiley. pp. 47–49. ISBN 047138707X.

^ Brown, Jeannette E. (2012). African American women chemists. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 27–29. ISBN 9780199742882.

^ Dickey, Megan Rose (2013-04-04). Most Influential Blacks In Technology. Business Insider. Retrieved 2015-02-23.

^ Lisa Lambert, Intel Capital. ecorner – Stanford Universitys Entrepreneurship Corner:. Retrieved 2015-02-25.

^ Lisa Lambert shares her Lean In story.. Lean In. Retrieved 2015-02-25.

^ Lisa Lambert, Intel Capital Corp: Profile & Biography. Bloomberg. Retrieved 2015-02-25.

^ Lisa Lambert, Intel Capital – Investing for Market Strategy and Capital. ecorner – Stanford Universitys Entrepreneurship Corner:. Retrieved 2015-02-25.

^ Carey, Charles W. (2008). African Americans in science: an encyclopedia of people and progress. 1. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO. pp. 142–144. ISBN 9781851099986.

^ Brown, Jeannette E. (2012). African American women chemists. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 111–114. ISBN 9780199742882.

^ Carey, Charles W. (2008). African Americans in science: an encyclopedia of people and progress. 1. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO. pp. 150–152. ISBN 9781851099986.

^ Cora Bagley Marrett. National Academy of Sciences, African American History Program. Retrieved 2015-02-24.

^ UCF’s McCauley-Bush is Engineering Role Model for Black History Month. UCF Today – Orlando, FL. Retrieved 2015-02-23.

^ UCF Engineering Professor Pamela McCauley

1863 - African American History

African American history entails the American history with regard to black ethnic group that formed its root in America after being enslaved by the whites in their homeland. The heinous tradition of holding blacks in captivity and enslaving them began in the mid 16th century and lasted till 1865. Most of the blacks who make African American history were slaves. They have been called a variety of terms throughout American history, such as Negros and colored. But now, these terms are considered offensive to refer to African Americans. The contribution of African Americans in the history of United States can’t be neglected. Therefore, each year the blacks’ history in America is celebrated in the month of February to honor them. It is known as the Black History Month. It was not until late twentieth century that academic board in the United States decided to include African Americans’ history in their curriculum, which was previously marginalized for a number of reasons.

As mentioned earlier, the 80-85% African Americans population descended from their ancestors, who were brought from Africa to Northern America during slave trade. The rest of 10% arrived of their own accord by means of Caribbean route or other. The Africans who were captured in African wars were sold to various buyers including United States, Europe and Arabia. The slavery had its roots in Africa for centuries but it was not until Europeans arrived who expanded the market looking for low-cost labor. These labors were mostly captured upon false criminal charges or kidnapped.

These slaves were then transported through ships where they were separated from their families and segregated by gender. The first of slaves were brought to Fort Monroe in Hampton during 17th century. Their owner kept them as indentured servants which entailed their release upon serving for a certain period of time. This practice was later replaced by race-based slavery and eventually the relegation of blacks reached the point where the slavery was legalized in Massachusetts, in

1863 - The United States Colored Troops (1863-1865)

The United States Colored Troops (USCT) was the designation given to the approximately 175 regiments of non-white soldiers that served during the Civil War. The troops were primarily African American, but Native Americans, Asian Americans, and Pacific Islanders were all included within the ranks, as well. By the end of the war, nearly a tenth of the entire Union Army consisted of member of the USCT, which peaked at 178,000 individuals. These regiments were the precursors for the now famous Buffalo Soldiers who served throughout the West following the conclusion of the war.

Before January 1, 1863, when the Emancipation Proclamation went into effect, President Abraham Lincoln was cautious about the recruitment of African Americans into the Union Army, due to politics and prejudice throughout the North, especially among Democrats loyal to the Union who resided in Border States that allowed slavery. Once January 1 came, however, and the Emancipation Proclamation went into effect, full scale recruitment of black troops began.

In May 1863, the United States War Department created the Bureau of Colored Troops, and the USCT was officially established. The USCT consisted of 135 regiments of infantry soldiers, six regiments of cavalry, one regiment of light artillery, and 13 regiments of heavy artillery. An addition nineteen thousand African Americans served in the United States Navy. Furthermore, thousands of black women, who were not allowed to formally enlist, worked for the military as cooks, spies, nurses, and scouts; the most famous of these women was Harriet Tubman.

The United States Colored Troops fought in every major military campaign and battle the Union Army was involved in during the last two years of the Civil War. These included three of the most costly battles of the entire war, the Battle of Nashville, the Battle of Chickamauga, both in Tennessee, and the Battle of Spotsylvania Courthouse in Virginia. Throughout the war, the USCT suffered a total of 68,178 casualties while contributing to the Union

2009 - Fruitvale Station

Fruitvale Station is a 2013 American biographical drama film written and directed by Ryan Coogler. It is Cooglers first feature-length film and is based on the events leading to the death of Oscar Grant, a young man who was killed in 2009 by BART police officer Johannes Mehserle at the Fruitvale district station of the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system in Oakland.

The film stars Michael B. Jordan as Oscar Grant. Forest Whitaker is one of the films producers.[4] Kevin Durand and Chad Michael Murray play the two BART police officers involved in Grants death. The names of the officers were changed for the film.[5]

Fruitvale Station debuted at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award for U.S. dramatic film.[4] It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival where it won the award for Best First Film. The film was released in theaters July 12, 2013.[6] It received critical acclaim upon its release and earned other awards.

The film depicts the story of Oscar Grant III, a 22-year-old from Hayward, California, and his experiences on the last day of his life, before he was fatally shot by BART Police in the early morning hours of New Years Day 2009. The movie begins with the actual footage of Oscar Grant and his friends being detained by the BART Police at the Fruitvale BART station in Oakland on January 1, 2009 at 2:15am right before the killing.

The film shows scenes of him and his girlfriend arguing about Grants recent infidelity. It later shows Grant unsuccessfully attempting to get his job back at the grocery store. He briefly considers selling some marijuana but in the end decides to dump the stash. Grant later attends a birthday party for his mother and tells her afterward that he will take the BART train to see fireworks and other New Years festivities in San Francisco.

On the return train, Katie, a customer at the grocery store where Grant used

1956 - A Brief History of Sudan - Part One

Early History of the Region :

Sudan was a collection of small, independent kingdoms and principalities from the beginning of the Christian era until 1820-21, when Egypt conquered and unified the northern portion of the country. However, neither the Egyptian nor the Mahdist state (1883-1898) had any effective control of the southern region outside of a few garrisons. Southern Sudan remained an area of fragmented tribes, subject to frequent attacks by slave raiders.

The Mahdis Crusade:

In 1881, a religious leader named Muhammad ibn Abdalla proclaimed himself the Mahdi, or the expected one, and began a religious crusade to unify the tribes in western and central Sudan. His followers took on the name Ansars (the followers) which they continue to use today and are associated with the single largest political grouping, the Umma Party, led by a descendant of the Mahdi, Sadiq al Mahdi.

Anglo-Egyptian Response:

Taking advantage of dissatisfaction resulting from Ottoman-Egyptian exploitation and maladministration, the Mahdi led a nationalist revolt culminating in the fall of Khartoum in 1885. The Mahdi died shortly thereafter, but his state survived until overwhelmed by an invading Anglo-Egyptian force under Lord Kitchener in 1898. While nominally administered jointly by Egypt and Britain, Britain exercised control, formulated policies, and supplied most of the top administrators.

Sudan Gains Independence:

In February 1953, the United Kingdom and Egypt concluded an agreement providing for Sudanese self-government and self-determination. The transitional period toward independence began with the inauguration of the first parliament in 1954. With the consent of the British and Egyptian Governments, Sudan achieved independence on January 1, 1956, under a provisional constitution.

The new constitution was silent on two crucial issues for southern leaders - the secular or Islamic character of the state and its federal or unitary structure. However, the Arab-led Khartoum government reneged on promises to southerners to

1960 - Yaoundé, Cameroon (1888- )

Yaoundé is the capital and second largest city of Cameroon. Georg Zenker, a German scientist, led a group of people who settled Yaoundé in 1888. Yaoundé is located in the Ewondo region between the Nyong and Sanaga rivers in southern Cameroon. In 2012 an estimated 2.4 million people resided in Yaoundé.

Cameroon emerged as a major source of the slave trade in the sixteenth century. The Portuguese, British, French, Dutch, and Americans were heavily active in the New World trade along the coast. The Transatlantic Slave Trade was abolished in the 1800s, but European countries remained active in Africa. On the eve of the Partition of Africa Gustav Nachtigal, a German diplomat, signed a treaty with two Duala chiefs in 1884 that led to the establishment of German Kamerun. In 1909, Yaoundé became the capital of German Kamerun.

During World War I, British, French, and Belgian troops invaded German Kamerun. Belgian troops occupied Yaoundé throughout the war. Following the end of World War I, the League of Nations divided Kamerun, giving the British control of the eastern territory and the French control of the remainder of the territory. Yaoundé became the capital of French Cameroun. Infrastructure investments such as road and railway projects connected Yaoundé to Douala, the largest city in French Cameroun, and the northern region of the territory.

Following World War II, nationalism emerged in British Cameroons and French Cameroun. Nationalists formed the socialist Union des Populations du Cameroun (UPC) in 1948. The UPC called for independence from Great Britain and France and reunification of the two territories. On January 1, 1960 France granted independence to French Cameroun. Ahmadou Ahidjo became the first president of the Republic of Cameroon. In 1961, President Ahidjo reunified British Cameroons with the Republic and Yaoundé became the capital of independent Cameroon.

Ahidjo centralized political authority in Yaoundé. The capital’s population grew from 100,000 in 1960 to 314,000 in 1976. The University of

1942 - Archer, Dennis (1942- )

Although he has served as a public school teacher, attorney, and Michigan State Supreme Court Justice, Dennis Archer is best know as the Mayor of Detroit and the first African American to become president of the American Bar Association.

Born on January 1, 1942 in Detroit, Michigan, Dennis Archer graduated from Western Michigan University in 1965 with a B.A.  He taught disabled children in the Detroit Public Schools for five years while attending the Detroit College of Law.  Archer graduated with a J.D. degree in 1970 and began practicing law. 

Dennis Archer was first appointed a Justice on the Michigan State Supreme Court in 1985.  He then won election to the Supreme Court post later that year and served until 1990. In 1993 he ran for mayor of Detroit, succeeding Mayor Coleman Young, the first black mayor of the city.  Archer was not popular with many Young loyalists and did not receive the majority of the African American vote.  Archer, however, eventually won over many of his critics and was elected to a second term in 1997 by a wide margin.

As mayor Archer promoted economic growth in the most impoverished areas of the city by persuading the federal government to make Detroit one of the first cities to receive federal Empowerment Zone status. He also initiated Detroit’s downtown “renaissance,” a controversial plan to develop the downtown area to lure businesses and residents back into the city.  He also promoted new downtown stadiums for the Detroit Lions football team and the Detroit Tigers baseball team.

Archer’s community development efforts brought him national attention and acclaim.  He was appointed to a position on the Board of Trustees of the U.S. Conference of Mayors and served twice as President of the organization.  In 2002, one year after leaving office as Mayor of Detroit, Archer was elected President of the American Bar Association.  He became the first African American to head the nation’s oldest and largest professional legal association. 

Copyright 2007-2017 - BlackPast.org v3.0 NDCHost

1863 - The Emancipation Proclamation

On January 1, 1863, the Emancipation Proclamation issued by U.S. President Abraham Lincoln went into effect.  The Proclamation, written the previous September, declared free all enslaved people in the Confederate States (or portions of those states) who resided in territory still in rebellion against the United States.  From that point forward as the Union Army captured more Confederate territory it would also liberate all enslaved people living in that territory.

January 1, 1863

By the President of the United States of America:

A Proclamation.

Whereas, on the twenty-second day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, a proclamation was issued by the President of the United States, containing, among other things, the following, to wit:

That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free; and the Executive Government of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom.

That the Executive will, on the first day of January aforesaid, by proclamation, designate the States and parts of States, if any, in which the people thereof, respectively, shall then be in rebellion against the United States; and the fact that any State, or the people thereof, shall on that day be, in good faith, represented in the Congress of the United States by members chosen thereto at elections wherein a majority of the qualified voters of such State shall have participated, shall, in the absence of strong countervailing testimony, be deemed conclusive evidence that such State, and the people thereof, are not then in rebellion against the United States.

Now,