Celebrating Juneteenth National Independence Day
Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, when Union Major General Gordon Granger along with more than 1800 federal troops rode intro Galveston, Texas, and told the slaves of their emancipation and that the Civil War had ended. That day came more than two and a half years after President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863.
While the Emancipation Proclamation was an executive order declaring that “all persons held as slaves” would be free was signed in 1863 and General Robert E. Lee’s surrender in Appomattox, Virginia, marked the end of the Civil War in April 1865, news that the war was over, and slaves were now free spread slowly across the south and often met resistance from plantation owners.
The 13th Amendment, enshrining a ban on slavery into the Constitution, was ratified in December 1865. In pockets of the country, however, enslavement of African Americans continued for several years. The announcement in Galveston, Texas, confirmed the freedom of the last remaining slaves in the deep South.
June 19 is now a federal holiday know as Juneteenth National Independence Day having been signed into law by President Biden on June 17, 2021. The holiday commemorates the end of slavery in the United States.
The holiday received its name by combining June and 19. Despite being celebrated since 1865, Texas was the first state to make Juneteenth a state holiday in 1980.
The holiday has been celebrated for decades through family picnics, parades, religious services, and readings of the Emancipation Proclamation.
Juneteenth is the first federal holiday created by Congress since 1983 when the third Monday in January was designated as Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.
JUNETEENTH EDUCATION
Dr. T.J. Tallie, Associate Professor of History at the University of San Diego, gives insight on the historical context of Juneteenth.
Dr. Tiffany Monique Quash, Director of Operations for the International Water Safety Foundation, shares her personal background on celebrating Juneteenth.
Dr. T.J. Tallie discusses the connection between Juneteenth and PRIDE.
Dr. T.J. Tallie gives tips on how to be an ally.
Transcription of the Emancipation Proclamation
January 1, 1863
By the President of the United States of America:
A Proclamation.
Whereas, on the twenty-second day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, a proclamation was issued by the President of the United States, containing, among other things, the following, to wit:
"That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, 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; and the Executive Government of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom.
"That the Executive will, on the first day of January aforesaid, by proclamation, designate the States and parts of States, if any, in which the people thereof, respectively, shall then be in rebellion against the United States; and the fact that any State, or the people thereof, shall on that day be, in good faith, represented in the Congress of the United States by members chosen thereto at elections wherein a majority of the qualified voters of such State shall have participated, shall, in the absence of strong countervailing testimony, be deemed conclusive evidence that such State, and the people thereof, are not then in rebellion against the United States."
Now, therefore I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, by virtue of the power in me vested as Commander-in-Chief, of the Army and Navy of the United States in time of actual armed rebellion against the authority and government of the United States, and as a fit and necessary war measure for suppressing said rebellion, do, on this first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and in accordance with my purpose so to do publicly proclaimed for the full period of one hundred days, from the day first above mentioned, order and designate as the States and parts of States wherein the people thereof respectively, are this day in rebellion against the United States, the following, to wit:
Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, (except the Parishes of St. Bernard, Plaquemines, Jefferson, St. John, St. Charles, St. James Ascension, Assumption, Terrebonne, Lafourche, St. Mary, St. Martin, and Orleans, including the City of New Orleans) Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia, (except the forty-eight counties designated as West Virginia, and also the counties of Berkley, Accomac, Northampton, Elizabeth City, York, Princess Ann, and Norfolk, including the cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth[)], and which excepted parts, are for the present, left precisely as if this proclamation were not issued.
And by virtue of the power, and for the purpose aforesaid, I do order and declare that all persons held as slaves within said designated States, and parts of States, are, and henceforward shall be free; and that the Executive government of the United States, including the military and naval authorities thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of said persons.
And I hereby enjoin upon the people so declared to be free to abstain from all violence, unless in necessary self-defence; and I recommend to them that, in all cases when allowed, they labor faithfully for reasonable wages.
And I further declare and make known, that such persons of suitable condition, will be received into the armed service of the United States to garrison forts, positions, stations, and other places, and to man vessels of all sorts in said service.
And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of justice, warranted by the Constitution, upon military necessity, I invoke the considerate judgment of mankind, and the gracious favor of Almighty God.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the City of Washington, this first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty three, and of the Independence of the United States of America the eighty-seventh.
By the President: ABRAHAM LINCOLN
WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.
