Written by Dr. Emily Blanck, Associate Professor in the College of Humanities & Social Sciences
“January 1, 1863, was the day President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, the beginning to the end to slavery. New Year's Day is a time to be grateful for that act. It is a time to get my house in order.”
-Antoinette Broussard
Although Watch Night began on January 1, 1740, as a Protestant service under John Wesley to recommit one’s covenant to God, it now has more layers of meaning for the African American community. On January 1, 1863, Abraham Lincoln signed the highly anticipated Emancipation Proclamation. Beginning on December 31, 1862, enslaved and free Black Americans sat in prayer waiting for the signing — for a promise toward liberation and the end of slavery in the United States. This began a tradition or holiday among black church communities throughout the United States to spend New Year’s Eve at a church service, reflecting on the meaning of freedom and of using one’s liberation toward spiritual renewal. Black churches across the United States still celebrate Watch Night. Some call the night “Freedom’s Eve.”
Terms
Enslaved people – Enslaved people are humans who are forced to be a slave. This term has become preferred to ‘slave’ as it affirms the humanity of those captured and emphasizes the action taken to force them into servitude.
African-American/Black: Black refers to people of the African diaspora, which includes those in the Americas, the Caribbean, and Europe. African-Americans refer to Americans of African descent. Some prefer one term over the other.
Emancipation– The act of freeing enslaved people.
History
Following the pyrrhic victory at Antietam, Abraham Lincoln spent much of 1862 writing the Emancipation Proclamation, being lobbied by black leaders like Frederick Douglass to include military service by black men, and to expand its scope as widely as possible. While the Proclamation did not promise emancipation to all enslaved people, the Emancipation Proclamation did provide a plan to emancipate the enslaved people in the occupied territories of the South and to begin enlisting black men to fight in the Civil War. It was well-known that he would finally sign the proclamation on January, therefore black Americans gathered in public where they could and in secret where they had to, awaiting news of the signing.
On New Year’s Day 1863, African Americans in Beaufort, South Carolina, gathered to hear Col. Thomas Wentworth Higginson read the Emancipation Proclamation. He remembered the moment when “two women’s voices immediately blended, ‘My country ’tis of thee, Sweet land of Liberty’…the quavering voices sang on, verse after verse; others around them joined;…I never saw anything so electric; it made all other words cheap…the life of the whole day was in those unknown people’s song.”
In Boston, Frederick Douglass described the original Watch Night in Boston waiting at Tremont Hall with others anticipating the document’s signing. He wrote, “We were waiting and listening as for a bolt from the sky, which should rend the fetters of four millions of slaves.”
Actual emancipation took time. As the Union Army rolled into different regions of the South, they emancipated the enslaved people there. SInce this happened over time, each region had their own dates. The enslaved people in the mid-Atlantic recognize April 4 as their Emancipation Day, when abolition came to Washington DC. Mississippi celebratd on May 8, in Florida, May 22, Alabama and Georgia May 28, Missouri August 4, and Kentucky and Tennessee on August 8. The final emancipation from the Emancipation Proclamation happened on June 19, 1865 in Galveston Texas, two months after the surrender at Appomattox. Commemoration of this date would become the celebration Juneteenth.
Enslaved people in states that fought for the Union — Missouri, Delaware, Maryland, and Kentucky — did not become emancipated until December 6, 1865, with the passage of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution.
Today, Watch Night is celebrated on New Year's Eve in churches around the United STates. Frequently they begin with a feast, where the community shares their favorite dishes. That would be followed by a service that might begin at 9-10 pm and end after midnight. The service would include prayer, singing, testimonies, and a sermon. The time right before midnight would usually sit in quiet prayer, anticipating the moment of liberation.
Each community celebrates in their own meaningful way. In Bolden, Georgia, members of the Mt. Calvary Baptist Church, draw from their African heritage. The McIntosh County Shouters lead the community in a ring shout. This tradition, which draws from West Indies and African rituals, includes ritualized dancing in a circle, a rhythm beat with a stick and a call-and-response song to praise God.
Watch Night coincides with the sixth principle of Kwanzaa, kuumba, a night of creativity, improving one’s community. This may be integrated into the celebration.
Ways to Participate:
This year, participating in a Watch Night service will be different than described above, but there are several local churches that have Watch Night services.
- Community Baptist Church of Englewood, NJ-cbcofe.org
- St. Matthews Baptist Church Williamstown, NJ-stmatthewsbc.org
- The Perfecting Church, Sewell-https://theperfectingchurch.org/
- Gloucester County Community, Church-gcccpray.com-(See the flyer on website)
- Victory in Christ Church, Westville, NJ-https://www.victoryinchrist.cc/-Flyer (See the flyer on website)
Resources for Continued Learning:
Blanck, Emily. “Juneteenth and Emancipation Celebrations.” In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of American History. Oxford University Press, 2014—. Article published October 27, 2020. doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780199329175.013.840.
Broussard, Antoinette, African American Holiday Traditions (New York: Citadel Press, 2000).
Douglass, Frederick, Life and Times of Frederick Douglass (New York: Collier Books, 1962).
Gay, Kathlyn, African-American Holidays, Festivals, and Celebrations, (Detroit MI: Omnigraphics, 2007).
McIntosh County Shouters http://mcintoshcountyshouters.com/
Oakes, James, Freedom National: The Destruction of Slavery in the United States, 1861-1865 (New York: WW Norton, 2013).
WPA Slave Narratives
https://www.loc.gov/collections/slave-narratives-from-the-federal-writers-project-1936-to-1938/about-this-collection/
Watch Night, African American Civil War Museum, https://www.afroamcivilwar.org/component/content/article/4-upcoming-events/190-watch-night.html