Celebrate Juneteenth Day

The nation’s second Independence Day

Photo by Vitalii Abakumov on Unsplash

Something I was never taught in school

Although the Emancipation Proclamation was enacted by Abraham Lincoln in 1863, it could not be fully enforced in states that remained under Conderate control, such as Texas. There, enslavers defied the new law and kept word of it from those they held captive.

It would take two more years and the enforcement of federal Union troops, which included many newly freed Black soldiers, to march into the state, onto plantations, to ensure the new law was fully implemented.

Freedom finally came on June 19, 1865, when some 2,000 Union troops arrived in Galveston Bay, Texas. The army announced that the more than 250,000 enslaved black people in the state, were free by executive decree. This day came to be known as “Juneteenth,” by the newly freed people in Texas.

In the Catholic elementary schools where I was taught and tested in the 1970s on the importance of Independence Day and the signing of the Declaration of Independence — who signed it, why they signed it, why we celebrate it — I never learned anything more than a blip about the abolishment of slavery.

And I certainly never learned anything about Juneteenth Day.

Juneteenth is more than a “Black people” holiday

Fast forward fifty years, little more is taught about this now national holiday than when I was a kid.

I was shocked when a few years ago I asked a social studies teacher at the high school where I teach English whether he covered the history of Juneteenth.

His answer was, “Well, no. It’s primarily a Black holiday, so…”

“So??” was my response.

“Our school is mostly White. I think it would be devisive and political.”

Why was I shocked by his response? This was the same man who, in an equity faculty meeting, put White privilege in air quotes and asked who made up that term anyway.

Nonetheless, I still thought he must have evolved some since then.

Nope.

How was Juneteenth divisive and political while July Fourth was not? While reciting the Pledge of Allegiance daily over the PA was not?

Unfortunately, those are rhetorical questions.

Everyone should know her name

Dr. Opal Lee, who was raised in Texas, whose own childhood home was burned down by White supremacists on June 19th, 1939, who will be 100 years old come this October, is considered the Grandmother of Juneteenth.

A lifelong activist and educator, at 89 years of age, Lee made the decision to walk from her home in Fort Worth, Texas to Washington, D.C. to advocate for making Juneteenth a federally recognized holiday.

Dr. Lee walked 2.5 miles per day, educating people of Juneteenth’s history and collecting millions of signatures on a petition supporting the holiday, on her way to the White House.

The 2.5 miles symbolized the number of years it took for enslaved people in Texas to learn of their emancipation.

It would take five more years for her dream to become a reality.

She was there in 2021 as President Biden signed it into law.

Opal Lee on May 22, in Fort Worth.

In 2024, Lee was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In his remarks before presenting her with the medal, President Biden said of Lee:

…she made it her mission to make history, not erase it,” and told her: “We are a better nation because of you.”

President Joe Biden awards the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, to Opal Lee during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House, Friday, May 3, 2024, in Washington.Alex Brandon / AP

Juneteenth Day Celebrations in Milwaukee

Today is Juneteenth, and in my city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin (one of the nation’s most segregated cities) there will be parades, barbeques, picnics and fireworks.

There will be speeches by elected officials, choirs, sermons and dance performances commemorating the day that should be as well known to all of us as is the Fourth of July.

There will be a street fair with artists and artisans and food trucks and face painting.

There will be music. Bands, rappers and orchestras.

There will be citywide and now, nationwide, recognition of the significance of that day when all enslaved people of this country regained their freedom. And that is American history that needs to be acclaimed by all peoples.

Even though the current administration downgrades the holiday as it does anything to do with people of color, it will not prevent the observances, the festivities, the traditions to commence. It will not prevent truth.

There will be pride!

There will be joy!

Opal Lee, the Grandmother of Juneteenth, second from left, walks through Fair Park with her granddaughter Dione Sims, third from left and hundreds of participants during 2024 Opal’s Walk for Freedom honoring the U.S. federal holiday, Juneteenth, Wednesday, June 19, 2024, in Dallas. Chitose Suzuki/Dallas Morning News