February 20

Frederick Douglass, Albert Cleage, Day of the Heavenly Hundred Heroes, and the World Day of Social Justice

Author

David Barnhart
February 20, 2025

Bolivia. “The most dangerous road in the world.” 2006. Own photo.

Abolitionist Frederick Douglass, the first African-American to hold high political office, died on this day in 1895, and today is his Feast Day in the Episcopal Church. After escaping to freedom in 1838, he became the most prominent Black abolitionist. Critical of the "Christianity of this land," which accepted (or at least tolerated) slavery, he considered himself a devotee of "the pure, peaceable, and impartial Christianity of Christ."

Today also marks the death of Albert Cleage, also known as Jaramogi Abebe Agyeman. He was pastor of the Shrine of the Black Madonna, and was an important religious figure during the Civil Rights Movement. He was critical of integration, and a supporter of Pan-African nationalism. 

Today is also a day of recognition in Ukraine, called the Day of Heavenly Hundred Heroes. Protests erupted in Ukraine in 2014, when the corrupt President Yanukovych rejected closer relations with the European Union, and instead bowed to pressure from Vladimir Putin. Police fired on the protestors on February 20, killing nearly fifty. This marked the end of the Yanukovych government, but Russia would soon invade Crimea when Putin realized his influence was slipping. 

Reflection:

Those who profess to favor freedom and yet depreciate agitation, are people who want crops without ploughing the ground; they want rain without thunder and lightning; they want the ocean without the roar of its many waters. The struggle may be a moral one, or it may be a physical one, or it may be both. But it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.

“If it supports the liberation struggle of Black people, then it is the will of GOD. If it opposes the liberation struggle of Black people, then it is satanic. With this simple key to the mysteries of life both events and institutions can be judged.”

Prayer: God of liberation and change, make all our struggles for freedom align with those who have the most to gain. We know no change comes without agitation, so make us brave to plough the ground. Amen.