New Year's Day is a time for celebration, goal setting, and a fresh start for many people

today.

But it wasn't that simple for enslaved Africans.

Like Doomsday, January 1st loomed over their heads.

What was so dreadful about the New Year?

This is Two Minute Black History, what you didn't learn in school.

Black enslaved people typically spent the time between Christmas and New Year's Eve joyously

dancing, eating, and in-community with their loved ones.

Their enslavers gave them multiple days off to celebrate, but this act was far from kind.

Many dreaded the days ahead.

January 1st was Hiring Day, which meant that many enslaved black people were rented out

by their enslavers.

So what did it mean to be rented out?

Frequently being torn from their families.

A common and profitable practice in the pre-war South.

Enslavers would put enslaved people up for auction, so the enslaver could make extra income

during the period between Cotton and Corn Harvest and the next planting season.

But like we've always done, enslaved people eventually turned their former New Year's

Day pain into a new tradition.

Since 1862, black church communities have gathered on New Year's Eve during what are called

Watch Night services.

The tradition started the night before the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation and

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