Juneteenth was recently made a federal holiday in 2021, but it is something that Black Americans have been observing since 1865. How and why did Juneteenth become such an important holiday to Black people? Most know that slavery came to an end in 1863 when President Lincoln enacted the Emancipation Proclamation. Some African Americans had found freedom as early as 1861 when Union forces captured outlying Confederate territories, and also by using the chaos of the war to make an escape, usually to the nearest Union base. Though African American people were made free in 1863, not every enslaved person was made aware of this news. Texas, being separate from both the Union and Confederacy was able to keep people enslaved up until June 19th, 1865, three months after the Civil War ended, and 2 years after the Emancipation Proclamation. That was until Union General Gordon Granger and 2000 troops landed in Texas to take control of the last unoccupied Confederate state.
Though news of emancipation took the summer and autumn of 1865 to spread across Texas, Black Americans gradually settled on June 19th being the day of celebration. As early as 1866 Black people celebrated the day with parades, parties, barbeques, baseball games, horse races, & more. Today Juneteenth is a Federal Holiday recognized by the same government that originally enslaved Black people. This shows us we don’t have to finish where we started, celebrate Juneteenth with remembrance of the immense suffering Black people have faced in our country. Slavery was 100x worse than what any of us know so honor those Americans this year, and every year.
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