Juneteenth

• 1. The Long Delay Of Freedom

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  On the 19th of June 1865, Union Major General Gordon Granger arrived on the island of Galveston to take command of more than 2,000 federal troops. His arrival marked a stark contrast to the end of the American Civil War just weeks prior. Confederate General-in-Chief Robert E. Lee had surrendered at Appomattox Court House on the 9th of April 1865. The western Confederate Army of the Trans-Mississippi did not formally surrender until June 2. Yet Texas remained the most remote state of the former Confederacy with low Union troop presence. Planters and other slaveholders from eastern states had migrated into Texas to escape the fighting. They brought enslaved people with them, increasing the population by thousands. By 1865, there were an estimated 250,000 enslaved people in Texas alone. Granger issued General Order No. 3 to enforce the Emancipation Proclamation. This order informed all Texans that all enslaved people were free according to the Executive of the United States. The proclamation had gone into effect on the 1st of January 1863, but enforcement relied upon the advance of Union troops. In all, the 19th of June 1865 was 900 days after the Emancipation Proclamation went into effect. It came 71 days after Robert E. Lee surrendered and 24 days after the disbanding of the Confederate military department covering Texas.

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• 2. Jubilee Days And Land Purchases

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  One year later, on the 19th of June 1866, freedmen in Texas organized the first annual commemorations of Jubilee Day. Early celebrations served as political rallies to give voting instructions to newly freed African Americans. Formerly enslaved people rejoiced after General Order No. 3. Some cities barred Black people from using public parks due to state-sponsored segregation. Across parts of Texas, freed people pooled their funds to purchase land for their celebrations. The day was first celebrated in Austin in 1867 under the auspices of the Freedmen's Bureau. By 1872 it appeared on a calendar of public events. That same year, Black leaders in Texas raised $1,000 for the purchase of land. This plot became known today as Houston's Emancipation Park. The observation soon drew thousands of attendees across Texas. In Limestone County, an estimated 30,000 Black people celebrated at Booker T. Washington Park established in 1898. The word Juneteenth appeared in print in the Brenham Weekly Banner as early as 1891. Mentions of Juneteenth celebrations outside of Texas appeared as early as 1909 in Shreveport, Louisiana.

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• 3. Disenfranchisement And Economic Hardship

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  From 1890 to 1908, Texas and all former Confederate states passed new constitutions or amendments that effectively disenfranchised Black people. White-dominated state legislatures passed Jim Crow laws imposing second-class status. Gladys L. Knight writes the decline in celebration was partly because upwardly mobile blacks were ashamed of their slave past. They aspired to assimilate into mainstream culture. Younger generations occupied with school and other pursuits dropped the celebration. Many who migrated to the Northern United States could not take time off to celebrate. The Great Depression forced many Black people off farms and into cities to find work. They had difficulty taking the day off to celebrate during these economic crises. From 1936 to 1951, the Texas State Fair served as a destination for celebrating the holiday. In 1936, an estimated 150,000 to 200,000 people joined the holiday's celebration in Dallas. Seventy thousand people attended a Juneteenth Jamboree in 1951. Despite this revival at the fair, public festivities declined significantly from 1890 through the 1930s due to systemic oppression.

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• 4. Migration And The Great Revival

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  From 1940 through 1970, more than five million Black people left Texas, Louisiana and other parts of the South for the North and West Coast. As historian Isabel Wilkerson writes, the people from Texas took Juneteenth Day to Los Angeles, Oakland, Seattle, and other places they went. In 1945, Juneteenth was introduced in San Francisco by a migrant from Texas named Wesley Johnson. During the 1968 Poor People's Campaign to Washington DC called by Rev. Ralph Abernathy, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference made June 19 the Solidarity Day of the Poor People's Campaign. Large celebrations emerged in Minneapolis and Milwaukee during the subsequent revival. In 1974, Houston began holding large-scale celebrations again. Fort Worth followed the next year. Around 30,000 people attended festivities at Sycamore Park in Fort Worth the following year. The 1978 Milwaukee celebration drew more than 100,000 attendees. By the late 1980s, there were major celebrations of Juneteenth in California, Wisconsin, Illinois, Georgia, and Washington D.C.

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• 5. Legislative Journeys To Federal Status

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  In 1979, Democratic State Representative Al Edwards of Houston successfully sponsored legislation to make Juneteenth a paid Texas state holiday. The bill passed through the Texas Legislature and became officially a state holiday on the 1st of January 1980. Activist Opal Lee often referred to as the grandmother of Juneteenth campaigned for decades to make it a federal holiday. At age 89 she led a symbolic walk from Fort Worth, Texas to Washington D.C. to advocate for the federal holiday. On the 15th of June 2021, the Senate unanimously passed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act. It passed through the House of Representatives by a 415, 14 vote. President Joe Biden signed the bill on the 17th of June 2021. Juneteenth became the eleventh American federal holiday and the first to obtain legal observance since Martin Luther King Jr. Day was designated in 1983. In January 2025, President Donald Trump issued an executive order banning diversity programs interpreted as eliminating in-agency observance planning for cultural remembrance events including Juneteenth.

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• 6. Red Foods And Symbolic Flags

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  Traditions include public readings of the Emancipation Proclamation which promised freedom. People sing traditional songs such as Swing Low Sweet Chariot and Lift Every Voice and Sing. Red food and drinks are traditionally served during the celebrations. Examples include red velvet cake and strawberry soda with red meant to represent resilience and joy. Barbecue is the centerpiece of most Juneteenth celebrations according to Tourism Review International. In 1997 activist Ben Haith created the Juneteenth flag further refined by illustrator Lisa Jeanne Graf. The star at the center represents Texas and the extension of freedom for all African Americans throughout the whole nation. The burst around the star represents a nova and the red curve represents a horizon standing for a new era for African Americans. The red white and blue colors represent the American flag showing that African Americans and their enslaved ancestors are Americans. The national belief in liberty and justice for all citizens remains central to these symbols.

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