Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865 when federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas and gave word to enslaved African Americans that they were free — more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed.
June 20, 2022

"The people of Texas are informed that in accordance with a Proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired laborer." -- General Gordon Granger

I was talking to someone yesterday about Juneteenth, and she wanted to know why, you know, a white person would want to celebrate.

"Why?" I said. "It's the day that white America finally let go of the last remnants of slavery, an impossibly heavy moral burden. What's not to celebrate?"

It's still appalling that people were kept in slavery one minute longer than they were supposed to, but that just shows the level of resistance white people had to losing the free labor that made them rich.

The real anniversary was yesterday. But this is the first year Juneteenth is a federal holiday, and it's celebrated today.

All 50 states either commemorate or observe Juneteenth, but only 18 observe it as a permanent paid state holiday: Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Maryland, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Virginia and Washington.

Discussion

We welcome relevant, respectful comments. Any comments that are sexist or in any other way deemed hateful by our staff will be deleted and constitute grounds for a ban from posting on the site. Please refer to our Terms of Service for information on our posting policy.
Mastodon