Juneteenth

Charles

Juneteenth  is a celebration that commemorates the end of slavery in the United States. On June 19th, 1865, Union Army troops landed at Galveston, Texas with news that the Civil War had ended.

This was two and a half years after President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation , which took effect on January 1, 1863. The Proclamation declared that all persons held as slaves within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free."

The Emancipation Proclamation, despite its enduring greatness, had some practical limitations. It applied only to states that had seceded  from the Union, not to Union states where slavery still existed, nor parts of the Confederacy that were under Union control. It was also an Act issued by President Lincoln  as Commander-in-Chief of the Union Army and Navy — the freedom it promised ultimately depended upon a Union victory.

So the Emancipation Proclamation was unenforceable in slave states during the war. Millions of African Americans in Confederate states were deprived of freedom.

But with the end of the Civil War, the Proclamation took effect everywhere. Enslaved Americans were free at last.

On June 19th, 1865, two months after the war ended, soldiers commanded by Major General Gordon Granger  landed at Galveston with the news: Freedom for African Americans in Texas was officially proclaimed. Juneteenth celebrations followed in ensuing years, as many former slaves and their descendants made a pilgrimage back to Galveston on the date. The gatherings began as a time for reassurance and prayer in Jim Crow  times, and helped bring family members together.

In the recent past, a number Juneteenth Organizations have emerged with the purposes of promoting official recognition of the holiday, and to cultivate knowledge and participation in African-American history and culture. Although Juneteenth has been celebrated since 1865, it wasn't until 1979 that Texas became the first state  to make it an official state holiday.

It may have started with Emancipation, but Juneteenth has evolved into much more — for African Americans the holiday honors memory and family, and celebrates freedom, culture, and achievement.