Juneteenth: A New Holiday, a Symbol of Systemic Change, and a History Lesson

A pic of my family on June 20, 2020 in front of the Juneteenth historical marker on Galveston Island, where it is believed that General Order No. 3 was first read on June 19, 1865.

Thursday, President Biden signed into law a bill that will make Juneteenth a federal holiday. It's the first new federal holiday since Martin Luther King Day was instituted in 1983. For those who are unfamiliar, Juneteenth is a holiday that commemorates the arrival of the Union Army to Galveston, Texas on June 19, 1865, to proclaim and more importantly enforce General Order No. 3 that in short ended slavery. I am glad that Juneteenth, a holiday that has been celebrated in Texas for more than 150 years has made it to the national stage. Here are my top reflections on the evolution of my thoughts of Juneteenth, the meaning of the new federal holiday, and the history battles ahead that involve it.

My Evolution on Juneteenth

When I first heard of Juneteenth, not too long after moving to Texas nearly 30 years ago, I remember thinking it was a silly idea to celebrate news of slavery having ended more than 2 years prior. I remember thinking, "Why would you celebrate getting late news?" It wasn't until years and a lot of history lessons later that I understood its significance.

It wasn't until I was able to place myself in the position of the enslaved and fully grasp what it was like receiving the news of freedom that I could really appreciate the significance of the celebration. Even after the Emancipation Proclamation was issued on September 22, 1862, with the effective date of January 1, 1863, it was useless to those enslaved in the states that it addressed, because those states had succeeded from the Union and weren't abiding by any laws issued by the United States government.

As a result, no change materialized until it was backed by the full commitment of the federal government. In this case, it took the Union Army to show up and guarantee the safety of the enslaved population before the true celebration could begin. In other words, the Emancipation Proclamation was only a gesture but didn't mean anything to those enslaved until the Union Army was there to enforce it. This historical lesson of conquering a system as entrenched as slavery not being possible until the federal government was fully committed is one to note, and should be may be applied to other scenarios that black people find themselves in today.

The Opportunities and Pitfalls of the New Federal Holiday

Now that Juneteenth has become a federal holiday, the question may arise of what will it mean for the nation moving forward? Will it mean a thoughtful discussion of what the holiday stands for on at least an annual basis? Or will it be similar to Martin Luther King Jr. Day, where the meaning and message often gets watered down and misinterpreted, where people celebrate overcoming periods of our history like slavery and Jim Crow, as well as claim colorblindness is the direction we need to move as a society? I'd hope that we as a nation pursue the former over the latter to ensure that we can fully address the historical and current issues as they relate to race, but to do so will likely require lots of vigilance.

I also suggest that while we discuss the meaning of Juneteenth, we also consider House Bill 40, also authored by Congresswoman Shelia Jackson-Lee who was one of the authors of the Juneteenth bill, which would form a commission to study and develop reparations proposals for African Americans. Similar to the difference between a gesture and action discussed above in the previous section, the Juneteenth holiday is a gesture, but more meaningful systemic proposals like reparations is an action that shows a more full commitment to addressing historical injuries to African Americans.

A Battle of Historic Proportions

One of the biggest ironies is that as the nation celebrates its newest holiday, many states are currently banning the discussion of race in schools. This would mean the story of Juneteenth itself would be in jeopardy of not being told in some states, even though it is now a federal holiday. This point is a particularly sensitive one for me because recently my daughter explained to me that in her Texas History class this past year, her teacher specifically said that they would not cover the topic of slavery because he was worried about getting in trouble for covering the subject incorrectly. When I took Texas History, while we didn't nearly cover slavery in the manner that it should have been, we did at least cover it in a glossed-over manner. Now with the recent signing of Texas House Bill 3979, which blocks teachers from discussing certain viewpoints in the classroom, even the glossed-over version I received nearly 30 years ago will no longer be discussed in the classroom.

Now according to Ancestry, my family has had ancestors in Virginia since at least the late 1600s. Meaning that we have been on this soil for around a century before this country was even formed. Yet and still, we are not able to discuss the institution that brought many of my ancestors to this land, largely because it puts a large hole in the American Exceptionalism narrative that many prefer to tell, as I discussed in a previous post. Such inconsistencies across the curriculum in states like Texas make me believe that there should be some federal standards with regards to history curriculum, to ensure that many of our histories are not erased for a narrative that is not historically accurate at the whim of the state legislatures.

Conclusion'

While I am glad that Juneteenth is now a federal holiday, I hope that it is the first of many steps towards racial equality, instead of just another gesture. The holiday presents the opportunity to discuss slavery and the importance of full support of the federal government to effectuate systemic change that has resulted from it. However, without any further action, the holiday will do as much good for racial equity as the Emancipation Proclamation did the enslaved population in Texas before the Union Army arrived.