Juneteenth

Jun 19

On June 19th, 1865, 2,000 troops led by General Gordon Granger traveled to numerous locations throughout Galveston, Texas to inform the people that the war was over and slavery was therefore abolished. It is rumored that Freedwomen and men who heard the news began celebrating all across town. This moment birthed the now federal holiday “Juneteenth”, a commemoration of African-American independence. This celebration is important for many, many reasons — one being that it represents a truth to which broader America is just now getting exposed.

The Emancipation Proclamation

The Emancipation Proclamation was a two-step process. The first proclamation, which was issued September 22, 1862, declared that all enslaved individuals within states of the Confederacy were to be forever free if the states did not concede. This meant that enslaved Black people within Northern and bordering states were not declared free, because the proclamation did not give him the legal power to free all enslaved people. The limited nature of the document also made it virtually ineffective in Southern states. Southern slaves who were to be freed were only those captured by the Union army after a Confederate defeat, as an act of “taking Southern resources” and making them fight for the Union. This was a desperate war strategy, not an act of moral ascension on behalf of Abraham Lincoln or the North itself.

Black People In the War

By the end of the war, there were around 200,000 Black men who had fought for the Union - approximately 179,000 in the army and 19,000 in the Navy. The government began heavily recruiting Black soldiers after the Emancipation Proclamation was issued. Lincoln had the help of Frederick Douglass and the likes in strategizing and recruiting Black men to fight in the war in hopes of eventual citizenship. When Black men enrolled, they were oftentimes segregated and put to relatively menial tasks void of combat. There were roughly 40,000 Black casualties throughout the Civil War -- 30,000 from disease/illness. Although Black women were not permitted to enlist, they were still very active as nurses, scouts, spies, and more. Lucy Higgs Nichols is a great example; in late June of 1862, she fled slavery in Grays Creek, Tennessee with her newborn baby alongside a Union infantry. Nichols ended up becoming a nurse in the 23rd Indiana Infantry once they crossed Union lines, where she was recognized by Major Shadrack Hooper as “great with the wounded.” Despite her service to the Union and promises of pension payment, Nichols was denied her nurses pension numerous times after the War — an unfortunately minute depiction of the fallacy that was Emancipation.

Juneteenth in Galveston

The Confederacy technically disbanded after Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant and the Union on April 9th, 1865 at the home of white property-owner Wilmer McLean. What should have meant freedom to all enslaved people in America meant virtually nothing due to the infectivity of the Emancipation Proclamation, which left pockets of Black “Americans” in bondage within virtually every state. While 19th century technology was indeed humble compared to ours, it was not the lack of messaging that kept these communities ignorant of the end of the war (and therefore ignorant of their new freedom) — the news spread rather quickly. It was the greed and unlawfulness of White owners who held onto their power as long as they could by withholding information from their enslaved laborers, or threatening them enough to keep them from leaving.

Such was the case in Texas, a state so far from most of the battles of war that their system of subjugation had been barely affected by the Civil War or its ending. This began to change on June 19th, 1865 when General Gordon Granger arrived with nearly 2,000 troops to spread the information of “General Order No. 3”, a declaration to announce that the Civil War had ended and slavery was therefore abolished. It read, "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.” While the dominant story of Juneteenth is that immediate celebration broke out amongst freedpeople, the effect was less immediate and impactful as one may realize. There existed around 250,000 enslaved individuals in Texas at the time -- how would all of them get the news if they were not in the immediate presence of the announcement? Some would not hear the news for months on end, and even if they did, some masters gave little room to their ex-property to leave (see the story of Katie Darling). The foundation of the South was built upon the racial caste system, and the strength of the immediate American resistance to letting that go should not be underestimated. It would take the ratification of the 13th amendment some 5 months later to officially end slavery in Kentucky and Delaware.

Original celebrations consisted of extensive prayer, feasting, music and dance. Although the annual celebration officially began in 1866, Juneteenth became an official state holiday of Texas in 1980, the first traditionally Black holiday to be recognized in the U.S. All besides three states recognized Juneteenth as an official holiday at the beginning of 2021, so the federal government’s decision to declare Juneteenth as a federal holiday is merely matching most of the country’s energy — which is performative at best.

Conclusion

There’s over 150 years of history within this celebration and one can honor it in many ways, the most important being to first educate yourself. When one takes the time to learn about the history of the tradition, it becomes much easier to celebrate with purpose rather than to follow a trend. Juneteenth represents African-American Freedom, Emancipation, Liberation, Independence, yes. But ask yourself, what does that look like? Have we achieved these ideals for every Black person in America?

My point is that not all Black people were free after June 19th, 1865. Not all Black people were free after the 13th amendment. Not after the Civil Rights Act of 1964, nor the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Definitely not now, as we can’t even get our lawmakers to pass an anti-lynching bill. As those same lawmakers bring this holiday to the national spotlight, I think it’s important we all honor the holiday in a way that doesn’t compromise our view of what Black Freedom, Emancipation, Liberation and/or Independence truly means, for none of them have been fully achieved yet. We shouldn’t let this new stage convince us otherwise.

Thanks for reading. Now, if it applies to you, go celebrate. Happy Juneteenth.