Day of Remembrance on June 17 . . . Juneteenth

Juneteenth became a federal holiday on June 17, 2021. President Joe Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act into law.

When Melynda Price thinks of Juneteenth, she thinks of hope, home, and of heritage. A legal scholar at the University of Kentucky, Price is a fifth-generation Texan whose great-great-grandmother was enslaved in Southeast Texas.

President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation in January 1863. A proclamation declaring more than three million enslaved people living in the Confederate states free. Still, it was not until Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas, on June 19, 1865, that the last enslaved U.S. populations were informed of their freedom. 

Juneteeth commemorates that day.

Price’s family was among those enslaved for more than two years after the proclamation. Her mother’s grandmother was her first U.S. ancestor to be born emancipated. Price added . . .

“Everyone in my family said that she was born two days after the slaves were set free [on Juneteenth], and that was kind of the lore of how we understood emancipation and the distinction between being free and being not free.”

Millions of Black Americans have long celebrated Juneteenth, and President Joe Biden signed legislation last year (2021) establishing it as a federal holiday.

Price, the Williams J. Matthews Jr. Professor of Law and director of the Gaines Center for Humanities at the University of Kentucky, spoke to Public Integrity about her family’s history and how she hopes the Juneteenth holiday will shape discussions about the nation’s legacy of slavery.

“Juneteenth: A ‘beautiful story’ of liberty,” Center for Public Integrity

On “Freedom’s Eve,” or the eve of January 1, 1863, the first Watch Night services took place. On that night, enslaved and free African Americans gathered in churches and private homes all across the country awaiting news that the Emancipation Proclamation had taken effect. At the stroke of midnight, prayers were answered as all enslaved people in Confederate States were declared legally free. Union soldiers, many of whom were black, marched onto plantations and across cities in the south reading small copies of the Emancipation Proclamation spreading the news of freedom in Confederate States. Only through the Thirteenth Amendment did emancipation end slavery throughout the United States.

But not everyone in Confederate territory would immediately be free. Even though the Emancipation Proclamation was made effective in 1863, it could not be implemented in places still under Confederate control. As a result, in the westernmost Confederate state of Texas, enslaved people would not be free until much later. Freedom finally came on June 19, 1865, when some 2,000 Union troops arrived in Galveston Bay, Texas. The army announced that the more than 250,000 enslaved black people in the state, were free by executive decree. This day came to be known as “Juneteenth,” by the newly freed people in Texas. 

The post-emancipation period known as Reconstruction (1865-1877) marked an era of great hope, uncertainty, and struggle for the nation as a whole. Formerly enslaved people immediately sought to reunify families, establish schools, run for political office, push radical legislation and even sue slaveholders for compensation. Given the 200+ years of enslavement, such changes were nothing short of amazing. Not even a generation out of slavery, African Americans were inspired and empowered to transform their lives and their country.

Juneteenth marks our country’s second independence day. Although it has long been celebrated in the African American community, this monumental event remains largely unknown to most Americans.

The historical legacy of Juneteenth shows the value of never giving up hope in uncertain times. The National Museum of African American History and Culture is a community space where this spirit of hope lives on. A place where historical events like Juneteenth are shared and new stories with equal urgency are told.

“The Historical Legacy of Juneteenth,” National Museum of African American History and Culture

The scary part for this day of remembrance?

Juneteenth became a federal holiday on June 17, 2021, when President Joe Biden made it more of a special day by signing it into law. Trump has a thing for reversing anything Biden has done. It would not surprise me if Trump uses an Executive Order to cancel this day.