Juneteenth Simplified + Why We Celebrate
“Freeing yourself was one thing, claiming ownership of that freed self was another.” — Toni Morrison
Juneteenth History Synopsis
Happy Juneteenth! Today marks 159 years since the enslaved people in Galveston, Texas finally received word of the freedom they were owed two years prior. Abraham Lincoln announced the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863 which declared that “‘all persons held as slaves’ within the rebellious states ‘are, and henceforward shall be free’ (National Archives).” It promised to free 3.5 million slaves in the ‘rebellious states’ which included: South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Texas, Arkansas, and North Carolina.
The Emancipation Proclamation was primarily a military tactic to weaken the confederacy during the Civil War, and did not include the 500,000 people enslaved in the border states of Maryland, Kentucky, Delaware, and Missouri. Union soldiers attempted to announce the emancipation, but many southern areas were still under confederate control so it could not be implemented.
Fast forward two years, congress passed the 13th Amendment that promised to end slavery in the U.S except as ‘punishment for a crime’ and could not go into effect until ratified by at least 27 states. The Civil War ended with the surrender of confederate general Robert E. Lee on April 9, 1865. Although slavery was now illegal in the South, it still persisted in some areas until slave owners were forced to abolish it. On June 19, 1865, Union General Gordon Granger and approximately 2,000 of his troops arrived in Galveston to deliver the news.
Contrary to popular belief, people were still legally enslaved in the border states after Juneteenth. The 13th amendment was officially ratified five months later in December 1865.
Now free, the formerly enslaved people had no wealth, property, or places to go for help. America rewarded their hard work with Jim Crow laws, redlining, systemic racism, police brutality, CIA surveillance, Ku Klux Klan terrorism, job discrimination, educational inequity, micro-agressions, voter suppression, economic inequality, environmental racism, and more!
“Juneteenth was never about commemorating a delayed proclamation but about celebrating a people's enduring spirit.” - Annette Gordon-Reed
Why We Celebrate
The resilience our ancestors possessed acts as a reminder of the power that lives in all of us. We endured the most inhumane, dastardly acts that were set to destroy us for 400 years, yet came out stronger, educated, and profoundly gifted. Our food, music, style, & inventions have transformed the world despite all of the odds stacked against us.
Everyone who came before us deserves eternal celebration. The ones who chose the sea over enslavement, the ones who lost their lives standing up in a tightly packed ship, the ones who were experimented on, beaten, and raped. The ones who worked in the sun all day and night, the ones who worked in the house, and the ones who risked their own freedom to save another.
Our plight is not quite finished, but we came such a long way. Never forget the power in your lineage! In the words of Beyoncé in Bigger, “if you feel insignificant, you better think again. Better wake up because you're part of something way bigger… Bigger than you, bigger than we. Bigger than the picture they framed us to see. But now we see it, and it ain't no secret, no.”
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