Juneteenth

Juneteenth is a holiday celebrated throughout the United States, especially by African Americans, on June 19th. Also known as Freedom Day or Emancipation Day, the holiday commemorates the ending of slavery in the United States. Specifically, Juneteenth marks the day in 1865 when enslaved people in Texas learned that they had been freed under President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, which had been issued in 1863. Union Major General Gordon Granger announced the contents of the proclamation in Galveston, Texas, informing the enslaved people who were present that slavery had been outlawed in the state. As time went on, the holiday also came to symbolize social and legal progress for the Black community. Juneteenth has long been recognized as an official state holiday in many regions of the United States. In June 2021 Juneteenth was made an official federal holiday in the US.

In the modern era, Juneteenth is typically celebrated with gatherings of family and friends. These gatherings may take place outdoors, and often involve collective meals. Juneteenth demonstrations may also include public marches, parades, speeches, or festivals designed to raise awareness of issues that impact the Black community.

Background

Slavery had long been practiced in Africa when the Portuguese became the first European explorers to sail to the continent in the fifteenth century. While the Portuguese began the selling of enslaved people to Europe, it was the Spanish in the early sixteenth century who were the first to transport enslaved people to their colonies in North America. This transatlantic slave trade soon proved very profitable, leading other European nations to follow suit.

The first enslaved people in Britain’s American colonies arrived in the Virginia Colony in 1619. This group of about twenty enslaved people was sold to the settlers by a Dutch trading vessel. The earliest enslaved people in the British colonies were closer to indentured servants and could eventually earn freedom for themselves or their descendants. However, by the end of the seventeenth century, enslaved people and their descendants were viewed solely as property and could be bought or sold with few restrictions.

During the 1770s, the American colonists broke away from the British Empire and declared the new United States as an independent nation. Though the Declaration of Independence stated “that all men are created equal,” most of the Founders did not believe that equal rights should be extended to enslaved people. Slavery was outlawed in the northern states by 1804, but persisted in the southern states, providing a cheap labor source for cash crops such as tobacco and cotton. According to census figures from the United States, the population of enslaved people was about 893,600 in 1800, but had increased to about 3.9 million by 1860.

During the nineteenth century, slavery remained a lynchpin of the Southern economy. When Abraham Lincoln was elected president, many southerners feared that he would outlaw slavery throughout the country. Eleven southern states seceded from the United States in 1861, arguing that each state had the right to make its own decisions about its laws. These states formed the Confederate States of America, sparking four years of bloody conflict known as the American Civil War.

Overview

President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, near the end of the second year of the Civil War. The proclamation legally freed all of the enslaved people held in states that had seceded. While the edict did not technically outlaw slavery in the United States, it made the abolition of slavery a key aim of the war. Slavery was not officially abolished in the United States until December 6, 1865, when the states ratified the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution.

Juneteenth is a holiday traditionally celebrated by African Americans every June 19th. It commemorates the end of slavery in the United States, celebrating the day General Granger rode into Galveston and read the Emancipation Proclamation to an assembled crowd. Though the Emancipation Proclamation had been passed in 1863, and the war had ended by the time Granger made his declaration, news traveled more slowly in the nineteenth century. By 1865, Union victories across the South forced many enslavers to abandon their lands and flee to Texas, a slave state where they believed they would be beyond the reach of Union forces. For this reason, the enslaved people held in Texas were among the last to hear news of the Emancipation Proclamation.

The first Juneteenth celebration was noted in 1866, and continued on as an unofficial holiday celebrated by African Americans in the United States. The name Juneteenth is simply a combination of the month of June and the date of the nineteenth. Texas was the first state to recognize Juneteenth as a state holiday in 1980.

While the Thirteenth Amendment legally made every enslaved person in the United States free, in practice, many Black Americans were unable to exercise their rights in the same manner as White Americans. For this reason, many Black people used Juneteenth as a date to express their desire to achieve civil rights and highlight their struggles for equality. When Jim Crow laws were passed throughout the South, severely limiting the rights of Black citizens, Juneteenth was treated as a day of protest. African Americans dressed in fine clothes, held parades, and drew attention to the issues that affected their communities. They used the holiday as a way to celebrate the early successes of the civil rights movement, as well as a day to collectively strive for further recognition. The holiday became even more popular during the 1950s and 1960s, during major civil rights demonstrations. By 2017, forty-five states and the District of Columbia had officially recognized Juneteenth as a state holiday. By 2024 every state, plus the District of Columbia, recognized Juneteenth as a holiday.

In the modern era, Juneteenth is often celebrated in the home, among families and friends. It may involve participants throwing a party, cooking food, and working locally to commemorate the civil rights movement. In some areas, Juneteenth celebrants may hold large public demonstrations, such as festivals and parades. They may also work with local businesses and media to raise awareness of causes important to the Black community.

In 2020, Juneteenth was used by the Black Lives Matter movement and its supporters as an opportunity to protest mistreatment of the Black community at the hands of the police. Many protesters alleged that African Americans were disproportionately the targets of police brutality throughout the country. They demanded policing reforms, such as a greater emphasis on nonviolence during police training and harsher consequences for police brutality.

On June 15, 2021, the Senate unanimously passed a bill to make Juneteenth a federal holiday. Dubbed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act, the bill was likewise passed with overwhelming support by the House of Representatives the following day; however, fourteen Republicans voted against the bill. It was reported that many of those fourteen were against the cost of adding another federal holiday, while one opposed the name of the bill, stating it imposed on Independence Day. On June 17, President Joe Biden signed the bill into law, officially making Juneteenth a federal holiday.

After Juneteenth was made a federal holiday, some objected to the day's increasing commercialization. Some critics viewed the new federal holiday as a way for companies to market products and increase sales to Black consumers, instead of acknowledging the importance of the day and making changes to benefit the Black community, such as hiring more Black workers. Several major corporations pledged to support initiatives aiding Black communities following such criticism. Some large companies moved forward with Juneteenth-themed products, however. For example, Walmart produced an ice cream celebrating Juneteenth in 2022. After backlash on social media criticizing the company for trivializing the day to make a profit, Walmart agreed to remove the ice cream from its stores.

Bibliography

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