What Nobody Taught Me About Juneteenth

2 years. Imagine that.

I grew up in Southern California. Private Catholic school. Good education. Good nuns. Good intentions. We learned American history. Roman Catholic history. California history. Nobody taught us culture.

Not the history of Mexican Americans, whose roots run deeper in California than the state itself. Not the Irish, whose story is woven into the Catholic church we sat in every week. And not our Black brothers and sisters, whose fight for freedom is as American as any chapter in any textbook we were handed. Nobody taught me about Juneteenth.

I did not learn that on June 19, 1865, Union troops arrived in Galveston, Texas and announced that all enslaved people were free. I did not learn that this was more than two years after Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. I did not learn that people were still waiting for freedom that was already legally theirs. Two years. Still running someone else’s race. Still carrying someone else’s reins. That is not a history footnote. That is a leadership lesson.

The Emancipation Proclamation declared them free. But freedom is not real until you know you have it. June 19, 1865 is the day they were handed the reins. That is the jockey moment. The day they could finally bet on themselves.

And here is what that means for you. You cannot lead people well if you do not know their story. You cannot build a team that trusts you if whole chapters of their history never made it into yours. Gaps in what we know become gaps in how we see. Gaps in how we see become gaps in how we lead.

I am not asking you to feel guilty about what you were not taught. I am asking you to get curious about it. Go learn something today. The Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture is a place to start. Read about Juneteenth not as a holiday on a calendar but as a moment that tells you something true about resilience, delayed justice, and what it costs people to wait for freedom that was already theirs.

Then ask yourself what else you do not know. About your team. About their experience. About the back doors they came through to get to the same table as you. Every person on your team deserves a jockey moment. The day someone finally hands them the reins and says: this ride is yours.

You can be that person. But only if you know their story first. Juneteenth is a mirror. Hold it up. Look honestly. Then lead differently. If this resonates, let’s talk. Book a time and we will figure out your next steps together.

Bet on the jockey, not the horse. Are you ready to bet on yourself?