Today, the 19th of June is known as Juneteenth, a word arrived at by combining the sounds and meanings of two other words — in this case, June and the nineteenth. The word gained a lot of notoriety this year because Donald Trump originally scheduled his first big political re-election rally for today — in Tulsa. The rally has since been moved to tomorrow.
Growing up in Oklahoma, I was aware that this date was celebrated in Texas as a state holiday, but I don’t remember it having much significance anywhere else. Over the years, it’s been referred to as Jubilee Day, Liberation Day and Freedom Day. It’s become an unofficial American holiday. It’s sometimes referred to as a second American Independence Day.
It all started on June 19, 1865 when General Gordon Granger rode into Galveston, Texas and announced enslaved people were now free. This didn’t happen until more than two and a half years after Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation (on January 1, 1863.) So technically, the enslaved people in Texas were already free, but none of them were aware of it.
General Order No. 3 that General Granger read, said: “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 personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor. The freedmen are advised to remain quietly at their present homes and work for wages. They are informed that they will not be allowed to collect at military posts and that they will not be supported in idleness either there or elsewhere.”
Well, as you might imagine, many/most freedpeople weren’t especially interested in staying with the people that had enslaved them — even if they were to be paid. This set in motion what became known as “the scatter,” when droves of former enslaved people left Texas to find family members or more welcoming accommodations in the northern states.
Despite General Granger’s announcement, Texas slave owners weren’t particularly eager to part with what they felt was their property. When the slaves tried to leave, many were beaten, lynched, or murdered.
Juneteenth celebrations waned during the era of Jim Crow laws until the civil right movement of the 1960s. The Poor People’s March, organized by Martin Luther King Jr. was scheduled to coincide with the June 19th date. That march brought Juneteenth back to the forefront — march participants took the celebrations back to their home states and the holiday was “reborn.”
The formal end of slavery was marked by the passing of the 13th amendment of the constitution. Today celebrates and symbolizes the end of slavery in the United States. There is an ongoing campaign to recognize Juneteenth as a national holiday — that hasn’t happened but today it is recognized and celebrated in most major cities across the U.S. Because of the upcoming rally in Tulsa, it’s getting a little more publicity this year. The 13th amendment ended slavery and made everyone “free.”
The Chinese have a saying, that everyone is equal, but some are more equal than others. We should probably have one that says everyone is free but some are more free than others. Desmond Tuto said, “ My humanity is bound up in yours, for we can only be human together.” That sounds like good advice for Juneteenth — or any other day.
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