For more than a century, many African-Americans have quietly observed Juneteenth, commemorating June 19, 1865, when word came to Texas that the Civil War was over and slaves in the South were free. The tradition that began in rural Texas has spread across America, but the effort to give Juneteenth national recognition has taken longer than it took the news to reach the slaves–two years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.
Now an official holiday in seven states and making its way through the legislatures of three others, Juneteenth will be celebrated Wednesday in more than 300 cities and towns in typical summer holiday style, with festivals, parades, fireworks and barbecues.
But as the movement to make Juneteenth a national holiday gains momentum, organizers also are using the day as a display of black political empowerment, in hope that the White House, which has so far turned a deaf ear to the proposal, will be forced to pay attention.
Hundreds of people are expected to participate in the Juneteenth freedom march and rally, which begins at the historic home of abolitionist Frederick Douglass in Washington and ends on the steps of the U.S. Capitol. This month, supporters plan to present 1 million signatures to President Bush, urging him to issue a proclamation establishing Juneteenth as a national holiday.
“This is the oldest African-American celebration, but many communities were not galvanized until we started to work together to push the holiday to national status,” said Dr. Ronald Myers, chairman of the National Juneteenth Observance Foundation in Washington. “The slave legacy must be dealt with and reflected upon in this country in a positive way. The drive to make it a national holiday has served as a catalyst for participation and pride in Juneteenth.”
Lobbying legislators
Myers, a Mississippi physician who is leading the holiday campaign, spent Tuesday in Washington lobbying Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) and other legislators for support of a bill that would at least make Juneteenth an unpaid federal holiday. In 1997, Lott teamed with Sen. Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) and Rep. J.C. Watts (R-Okla.) to pass legislation recognizing the significance of Juneteenth.
Unlike many American traditions, Juneteenth has thrived over the years, not because of any official recognition, but by the determination of those who believe in it and have sought to spin an event some viewed as negative into something positive. The process has been difficult, historians said, because African-Americans have long disagreed on how slavery should be portrayed in the movement for equality, even during the civil rights era.
“There has always been a dichotomy between the civil rights culture and the Africentrist culture over what the black agenda should be about,” said Dr. Alton Hornsby Jr., a history professor at Morehouse College. “The Africentrists tended to reject the concept of integration, and despite the accomplishments of Dr. Martin Luther King and others, they took a more aggressive posture toward meeting their objectives, even including violence.
“Many saw the experience of bondage as debilitating and humiliating, and as a result, there has been a reaction against it, a reluctance to lift up certain symbols. That began in the 1960s and 1970s, and there are some vestiges of it now,” he said.
Today there is disagreement among the many groups involved in Juneteenth celebrations over how best to promote it and whether it should be a national holiday. Though long celebrated in Texas–the state made it a paid holiday in 1979–Juneteenth still is considered controversial and is debated among black scholars.
Paid holiday in Texas
Texas is the only state where Juneteenth is a paid holiday. It is a state-recognized holiday in Florida, Oklahoma, Delaware, Idaho, Alaska and Iowa, observed much like Flag Day. Holiday legislation is pending in California, Connecticut and New York.
Several other states have passed legislative resolutions recognizing Juneteenth as National Emancipation Day for African-Americans, and legislation is expected to be introduced in more than a dozen other states.
Lula Briggs Galloway grew up celebrating Juneteenth, but she does not want to see it made into a national holiday. Instead, she said, she is working to have the events become a part of school curriculums across the country. She has helped organize Juneteenth clubs at schools in several states, where students learn the contributions of American-Americans in history, ranging from accomplished scientists to ordinary community leaders.
“We don’t need someone to tell us it is OK to celebrate something that is already ours,” said Galloway, president of the National Association of Juneteenth Lineage, which is raising money for a museum in Galveston, Texas. “What is important is educating the masses. Some people who still don’t know what Juneteenth is.”
Though Lincoln delivered the Emancipation Proclamation freeing slaves in states in rebellion on Jan. 1, 1863, many slaves in the South did not gain their freedom until Union troops took control of Confederate territory and released them.
It took 2 1/2 years for the news to reach Texas, the last place where slavery was still enforced. Slaves in other areas of the South learned about their freedom even later than that.
Texas had a flourishing slave trade. So much so, historians said, that Confederate leaders in the Southwest wanted to extend the Civil War by creating a second confederacy, after Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered. But a group of war-weary Confederate soldiers in Galveston heard about it and staged a minor rebellion, which brought Union troops under the command of Gen. Gordon Granger to occupy Texas. When Granger arrived in Galveston, he read the emancipation order.
“Because of the lack of communication, a lot of slaves were lynched when they tried to leave. And that kept a lot of them from leaving the plantation,” Galloway said. “In some areas, slaves had heard as early as 1863 that they were free, but what would they use as proof? They were free to go, but they had no clothes, no shoes and no shelter.”
