Juneteenth is not a black-only holiday, any more than July 4 is a white-only holiday. It recognizes and celebrates a profound milestone in American history: the declaration of freedom for an entire race of American people who had been enslaved for centuries.
Although the day itself, June 19, 1865, was far less life-changing than it should have been.
June 16 commemorates the arrival of Union Army Major General Gordon Granger in Galveston, Texas, with General Order No. 3 telling the people of the westernmost Confederate state that “all slaves are free.” Although the Emancipation Proclamation went into effect in 1863, it could not be implemented until the Civil War ended and the Confederate states surrendered.
Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered his troops to Union General Ulysses S. Grant in April 1865 in Virginia, but other Confederate troops further south and west continued to fight, surrendering only in the following months. the 13thth The amendment abolishing slavery would be ratified in December 1865.
The slaves in Texas were the last in the Confederacy to learn that they had been freed. But the news didn't spread across the state right away. And some slave owners did not obey the order immediately, waiting to see who would enforce it.
Texas may have been the last Confederate state to receive news of emancipation, but in 1980 it became the first state in the United States to make it an official holiday.
June 16 is now a federal holiday. It is also recognized as a state holiday in more than 25 states and the District of Columbia.
The Freedom Announcement of 1865 did not end systemic racism and its discriminatory effects on housing, employment, and education. It didn't stop the violence that black people faced day after day, and it still does. Black people make up 13% of the American population, but make up 37% of the prison and prison population. Similarly, Black people make up 37% of the homeless population nationwide.
Efforts to address inequality, such as affirmative action, are being attacked or thwarted. The movement to secure reparations for the ancestors of slaves has not gained traction in most states. And although California formed a commission that meticulously created a legislative and political plan for reparations, the effort appears to have taken a backseat. Polls indicate that most whites do not support monetary reparations (while most black Californians do).
But there are reasons to celebrate this holiday. Juneteenth is about honoring strength, perseverance, and, yes, optimism. Those are traits that Americans have always had. And they are traits that African Americans have demonstrated in abundance for centuries; otherwise no black would have survived here. And black communities have held Juneteenth celebrations large and small since 1866.
Let's think about Opal Lee. The former teacher is often called “the grandmother of Juneteenth” for her decades of activism to have it designated as a federal holiday. When she was a child, her home in Texas was burned down by a white supremacist mob on Juneteenth in 1939.
In 2016, a month before his 90th birthday, Lee undertook a four-month walk from his hometown of Fort Worth to Washington, DC, to raise awareness for his cause. In 2021, Congress, with overwhelming bipartisan support, passed a bill making Juneteenth a federal holiday and President Biden signed it into law.
Last month, at age 97, Lee crossed the room at a White House ceremony to be embraced by Biden as he placed the Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, around her neck.
Lee told an interviewer that day: “I keep saying over and over again: Since the 19thth from June to 4th July, we should be celebrating freedom.”
In fact, all Americans, of all backgrounds, should.
