Valley City Times-Record

Juneteenth: Journey to Freedom in America

By Ellie Boese treditor@times-online.com

This date—June 19th—serves as a special opportunity to recognize, learn, educate, mourn, hope, rally and push reform as America observes Juneteenth. This date was chosen for an annual observance because of the historical importance of June 19, 1865, in the United States’ journey to making one of its founding principles—“All men are created equal”— true.

You might have seen photos or videos in news coverage as people across the nation gathered to bring attention to the important day and remind us all how far the United States must go to make that ideal true.

Emancipation Proclamation – 1862

President Abraham Lincoln signed the initial Emancipation Proclamation on September 22, 1862, which set forth January 1, 1863, as the date when all enslaved people in states rebelling against the Union would be freed. It wasn’t actually “freeing” anyone, at first; rather, it urged the Confederate states engaged in rebellion to

rejoin the Union or instead have their slaves be declared free.

Lincoln and other Union officials viewed the Emancipation Proclamation as a strategic wartime measure to weaken the Confederacy—and though it didn’t succeed in freeing any enslaved people, it had a huge impact. First, it served as an announcement that freedom for enslaved people was one of the Union Army’s aims. Second, nations that had been considering supporting the Confederacy to expand their influence in the states changed their minds, because they were strongly opposed to slavery. The preliminary Emancipation Proclamation paved the way for the eventual abolition of slavery in the nation.

13th Amendment – 1865

To move toward freeing enslaved people, Lincoln and his colleagues worked to incorporate a Constitutional Amendment to abolish slavery. The 13th Amendment was passed by Congress in January 1865 and ratified in December, officially freeing slaves in the country.

Juneteenth is the remembrance of the Emancipation Proclamation and ensuing enacting of the 13th Amendment not because it was the date it was signed or ratified, but because June 19, 1865, was the date when troops arrived in Texas to assume control of the former Confederate State and make sure slaveholders were following the orders put forth in the Emancipation Proclamation. The war had come to an end two months earlier, when Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered in Virginia, so slaves in Texas were to be free as of January 1863. But little changed after that date in the western-most Confederate state of Texas. In fact, many slaveholders from floundering Confederate states now occupied by Union troops had fled to Texas, viewing it as a “safe haven” for continued slavery.

Freedom – 1865

Decorated Union General Gordon Granger and 2,000 other federal troops arrived in Galveston, TX, on June 19, 1865.

He stood in front of a crowd of Texans, announcing that the Civil War had ended and reading aloud General Orders No. 3: “The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free.”

That day, 250,000 liberated slaves in that state became aware that they had been freed, and they were astonished, elated, relieved. They celebrated with joyful singing and dancing, gathering with their fellow freed men and women.

June 19, 1865, became the first annual celebration of Juneteenth, a day of joy and remembrance among those who found themselves newly freed and those who supported the abolition of slavery. The next year, freed citizens of Texas held the first “Jubilee Day” on June 19.

Independence Day – 1997

The first federal legislation to recognize “Juneteenth Independence Day” was introduced in the US House in 1996 and in 1997, the House and Senate adopted the bill, officially recognizing Juneteenth Independence Day and encouraging its observance.

“Juneteenth celebrations have thus been held for 130 years to honor the memory of all those who endured slavery and especially those who moved from slavery to freedom,” the Joint Resolution reads, “and their example of faith and strength of character remains a lesson for all Americans today, regardless of background or region or race.”

Though it is recognized as a day of importance, it is not yet a national holiday. Instead, it’s recognized as a holiday on a state-by-state basis. Texas was the first to make Juneteenth an official state holiday in 1980, and it’s now recognized as a legal holiday in 46 states. The only three states that don’t are South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana and Hawaii.

Instead, those states’ governors issue proclamations to recognize June 19 as Juneteenth Day each year.

Juneteenth as a Federal Holiday

Many legislators in both state and federal legislatures continue to push for Juneteenth Independence Day to be officially recognized as a federal holiday. The 4th of July is America’s celebration of Independence from the British Empire, and June 19 serves as America’s celebration of a major milestone in bringing to fruition our founding principles: that all Americans have “Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” and that “All men are created equal.”

Before emancipation, enslaved people in America saw the Declaration of Independence as a celebrated statement of equality, freedom and liberty—but only for some individuals. Not all.

“What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July?” abolitionist and escaped slave Frederick Douglass, stated in his 1852 Independence Day speech. “I answer: a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is constant victim.”

In 2018, the US Senate passed a resolution to make June 19 a federal holiday, Juneteenth Independence Day, commemorating the end of slavery in the United States.

As the nation comes up on 150 years since the Civil War’s beginning and takes in all that has transpired over the past few months, it’s paramount that Americans look to our sordid past—to really, truly understand it—so the country can move forward on a path that ensures progress toward a better life and future for all.

“We must confront the great contradiction in our past—that a ‘nation conceived in liberty’ was also born in shackles.” – Kenneth C. Davis, Smithsonian Magazine, June 12, 2020

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2021-06-18T07:00:00.0000000Z

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