Juneteenth was declared a federal holiday on June 17, 2021
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Like many Americans you may not be aware of the historical significance of June 19, 1986. You may have heard it suggested that Juneteenth should replace July 4 as the nation’s Independence Day or have wondered if only African Americans’ can celebrate the holiday.
Resurrection of Juneteenth as a forgotten holiday in the collective minds of Americans has led many to wonder, just what is Juneteenth?
The short answer is that on June 19, 1865 every enslaved person in the Confederacy finally learned they were free from the bonds of slavery. Remembrance of the day and its celebratory traditions over time morphed into the holiday we know today as Juneteenth.
Many Americans might say that the Emancipation Proclamation, signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, ended slavery in the United States.
In actuality, Lincoln’s executive order only freed slaves in the states under Confederate control. It was not until Congress ratified the thirteenth amendment on December 6, 1865 that slavery was officially abolished.
From the moment the Emancipation Proclamation’ s freeing words echoed into history, Union Troops eagerly marched onto plantations across the south, jubilantly reading aloud the president’s order to the enslaved people they found there.
Even so, it would be two and a half years after Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation was signed into law before every enslaved person in the South would learn of their freedom.
The last Confederate hold out to slavery was Texas, its deepest entrenchment in the western- most area of the state.
On June 19, 1865 nearly 2,000 Union Troops on horseback thundered into Galveston Bay, Texas to take control of the area from the Confederacy. Following victory, soldiers read the Emancipation Proclamation’s beautiful words of independence to the enslaved people of Galveston Bay, officially notifying every enslaved person in the Confederacy of their freedom.
Union General Gordon Granger faithfully recorded the words read that day as, “The people of Texas are informed that in accordance with a Proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired laborer.”
The changes freedom brought were slow, largely ceremonial, and produced many challenges.
In the wake of slavery a new form of bondage rose up in its place, Jim Crow laws that regulated the newly freed to second-class citizenship in their own country. Under these discriminatory laws African Americans’ were prohibited from organizing large gatherings, causing enthusiasm for celebrating Juneteenth to wane.
Considered the longest celebrated African American holiday in the United States, revival for its rich celebratory traditions led to Juneteenth being declared a federal holiday on June 17, 2021.
Patrick Henry’s defiantly penned words, “Give me liberty or give me death,” proved a rallying cry for our early American ancestors. Today, his lauded words prove there has never been anything more treasured by the American people than our belief in individual freedom.
Marking a turning point in the direction of the United States, Juneteenth honors the day that the words of the Declaration of Independence, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness,” truly became the goal of our fledgling nation.
