There are several historic Emancipation Day celebrations and observances in the U.S., but Juneteenth is the best known.
This short piece at LMO covers some of the history behind the holiday minus the common errors and misconceptions that mar popular Juneteenth coverage and conversations. It’s still a “mainstream-facing” blog for a business, but it doesn’t say things like, “the last slaves were freed on June 19, 1865,” or pretend that Juneteenth was unknown outside of Texas before federal recognition in 2021.
The assertions about Juneteenth being a “new” holiday “given to us” by the federal government strike me as weird. If you’re not in the know, it’s OK to be silent. Juneteenth spread beyond Texas and the South during the 20th century with significant events in places like Philadelphia, Milwaukee, and New York City. The first Juneteenth celebration I attended was in New Jersey during the late 1990s and I’ve attended subsequent events in NJ, Maryland, and DC.
LMO’s blog mentions the origin of Houston’s Emancipation Park and references this book.
The blog avoids the popular misconception that the Emancipation Proclamation “freed the slaves” in 1863 but “it took two years for the news to reach Texas.” That might be a cute myth, but emancipation had to be enforced in Confederate states at gunpoint with federal troop occupation. News of the Emancipation Proclamation must have reached some of the enslaved people in Galveston, Texas before June 19, 1865, but only bayonets would make it real.
Also, the blog doesn’t discuss culture, rituals, resistance, the role of Black Union troops, ongoing terrorism, wage theft, or complexities like how General Order 3 demanded Black people remain on the plantation as employees of their violent captors and avoid “idleness.” The text of General Order 3 reflected the individual-rights reinterpretation of the Declaration of Independence found in Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, but its admonition against “idleness” shows the ideologies that fed the convict-leasing regime and “slavery by another name.” The piece is a short overview of select historical details and keeps it “social structure,” in the parlance of my Africana Framework folks.
Have red drinks, red foods, and a read blog.
https://lmo.com/juneteenth-2024/