On September 22, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, which declared that as of January 1, 1863, all enslaved people in the states currently engaged in rebellion against the Union “shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free.” And though Lincoln formally signed The Emancipation on January 1, 1863, places still under Confederate felt no obligation to follow Lincoln’s orders and simply refused to comply.
In fact, Texas, the westernmost Confederate state, did not free enslaved people until more than 2½ years later. Despite the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 and the formal surrender of Robert E. Lee in Virginia months earlier, slavery remained in Texas through the early part of 1865.
Freedom finally came on June 19, 1865, when Union troops arrived in Galveston to assume control and free more than 250,000 enslaved black people in the state. As a result, this day is often considered the real Independence Day for Black Americans.
Juneteenth – short for “June Nineteenth” – honors the end to slavery in the United States and is considered the longest-running African American holiday. The first celebrations happened in Texas at the one-year anniversary, but it quickly spread across the country in subsequent years.
On June 17, 2021, Congress passed a resolution establishing Juneteenth as a national holiday; President Biden signed it into law on June 17, 2021. In alignment with this, SAS is giving employees an additional annual day off. Employees are encouraged to take the day for reflection, volunteerism, and education.
Educating ourselves about racism and inequality in the world, taking an honest look at our past and recognizing there’s still a lot of work to do are important steps we can take toward a more free, inclusive and equitable world for Black and African American employees and citizens around the world.
Here are a few suggestions for celebrating and learning more about Juneteenth.
Suggestions for learning more.
For starters, JMP’s own Nicole Jones suggests these reading resources.
Every Friday, SAS’ Black Initiatives Group (BIG) hosts a virtual meeting open to all SAS employees. BIG Friday is an open forum to learn about, explore and discuss world events and topics social injustice and inequality. Several JMP staff are part of the group; consider joining us a future Friday.
On June 18 and June 25, the Black Initiatives Group “BIG Friday” discusses the first two parts of a four-part documentary series, Reconstruction: America After the Civil War.
You can watch both parts of the documentary on YouTube: Part 1, Part 2. Future episodes will be posted here as well.
Additional learning from SAS’ Global Inclusion Week.
Suggested Events.
Consider participating in any of a number of events the National Museum of African American History and Culture has planned around Juneteenth. All events are virtual, with only an Internet connection needed to participate. Juneteenth: A Celebration of Resilience provides presentations, stories, photographs, and recipes and runs all day Friday June 18 and Saturday June 19. Other events are planned as well; a full list of events can be found here.
If you’re local to the Triangle NC area, several media outlets have posted events on their websites:
WRAL Listing
INDYWeek Listing
We'd love to hear from you.
Now it's your turn. Tell us how you are planning to recognize and celebrate Juneteenth in the comments!
Thanks for this article, @Larry_LaRusso. And thanks to Nicole Jones for sharing recommended resources. I highly recommend the PBS documentary linked above as well as the weekly BIG Friday calls.
The BIG Friday calls are enlightening, educating, fascinating -- they cover topics that need to be covered. All are welcome to attend, and if the time zone works for you, consider logging on. You are likely to learn a lot.
