What is Juneteenth and how should we celebrate it?
Photo Courtesy: Oladimeji Odunsie (Unsplash.com)
The Dilemma
Picture this, you've just joined a brand new company and you've been given the yearly schedule. This schedule showcases national holidays that you get off for the year. Christmas, okay...Thanksgiving...alright....Juneteenth? What the heck is that? Not one to complain about a day off, I accepted it with gratitude
When the day finally comes, the company sends out and artistic graphic to commemorate the holiday. Enjoying my time at home and scrolling through instagram, I see graphics and pictures celebrating this holiday that I've never heard of. Within the first few minutes I can piecemeal that it has something to do with slavery and freedom. Yet, I still had no clue what a Juneteenth meant.
Juneteenth has been a national holiday since 2021. After President Joe Biden signed legislation commemorating June 19th as "Juneteenth," an explosion happened. Suddenly advertisers, artwork and even music was made in celebration of the holiday. Check out this song about the holiday here.
Still, with two years of ads, cookouts and celebrations...I did not know what exactly we were celebrating. As a black woman, sometimes the culture assumes that you are educated about the culture. Rather than embarrass myself asking a question when others around me are engrossed in the festivities, I kept silent. It's hard to ask "why are we even toasting?"
What is Juneteenth?
The year was 1863 when President Abraham Lincoln signed the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation. This declared that "all persons held as slaves within any state, or designated part of a state, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free."
Despite the passage of the emancipation, the law could not be enforced in Confederate states before the Civil War (because that's one of the reasons they were fighting.) News of the emancipation travelled slowly in those days.
On June 19th, 1865 (more than two years later,) Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger, issued an order in Galveston, Texas. The order announced that that under the Emancipation Proclamation order two years prior, all slaves are now free. At the time of this announcement around 250,000 black people were still enslaved in Texas. They were the last to receive notice of their freedom.
Fast forward to 2020, calls for Juneteenth becoming a national holiday grew louder and louder after the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Rayshard Brooks. Before this, Juneteenth was only recognized as a state holiday. Due to the call to recognize the holiday nationally, President Biden signed the order to create Juneteenth into a national holiday.
How Should Juneteenth be Celebrated?
Well, that's the thing...there's not really a set way to celebrate the holiday. Some will take the day to educate themselves about the history of slavery and the holiday itself. Some will go to museums that commemorate the day. Others have massive cookouts with friends and family. Still, others will just enjoy their day off.
Now, hopefully you won't be like me during Juneteenth this year.
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