Juneteenth (short for June Nineteenth) is often referred to as "America's second Independence Day" or “Freedom Day” and commemorates the end of slavery in the United States. Although the Emancipation Proclamation was signed on January 1, 1863, it wasn’t until two and a half years later, on June 19, 1865, that this was communicated to those enslaved in Galveston, Texas. Juneteenth was celebrated across Texas communities the following year, and in 1980 the state made it an official holiday. Since then, 45 more states—including Massachusetts, which recognized the day in 2007—and the District of Columbia commemorate Juneteenth as a state holiday. 

On Juneteenth, we remember and pray for all of those who suffered under the oppression of slavery and continue to suffer from injustice, threats of violence, and needless death. Assumption is a community of faith, love, and respect. During June 2020, many productive conversations were held among members of the administration and students. That dialogue continues.

The History of Juneteenth

Juneteenth is a holiday commemorating the abolition of slavery in the United States. At the time of the Civil War, roughly four million African Americans, one-eighth of the nation’s population, were enslaved. Most lived in states that seceded to form the Confederacy, but many were also held in border states like Maryland and Missouri, which remained in the Union. On January 1, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation ending slavery in territory under Confederate control. Until the South surrendered, however, it was largely a symbolic gesture. Some enslaved people freed themselves by escaping behind Union lines. Others did not even learn they had been granted their freedom until after the war ended. 

Word reached Texas on June 19, 1865, when the Union Army arrived in Galveston. General Gordon Granger informed the Black community of Lincoln’s Proclamation and further declared “an absolute equality of rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves.” From then on, African Americans in Galveston and across the country have marked the anniversary of “Juneteenth” with parades and prayer meetings, cookouts and concerts, and family and community gatherings. June 19 became a statewide holiday in Texas in 1980. Many other states and cities have since followed suit.

Juneteenth holds special significance for African Americans as a celebration of Black freedom, resilience, and pride. And because African American history is American history, it is an anniversary everyone can observe and celebrate. Like the Fourth of July, it honors our national ideals of liberty and equality. But Juneteenth is also a day to remember how the United States has fallen short of those ideals, whether in the form of slavery, Jim Crow, or systemic racism. Building “a more perfect Union” means continuously addressing the gaps between the nation’s principles and its practices to ensure that American democracy is worthy of the name. As civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer proclaimed: “Nobody’s free until everybody’s free.” 

-Professor John Bell, Ph.D.

Suggested Reading and Listening for Juneteenth

• Frederick Douglass, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” (July 5, 1852)
• George Moses Horton, “On Liberty and Slavery” (1829)
• Belinda Sutton, Petition to the Massachusetts General Court (February 14, 1783)
• Sweet Honey in the Rock, “No More Auction Block (Many Thousands Gone)” (African American spiritual)

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

• What is Juneteenth?
• Emancipation Proclamation
• Black National Anthem
• Maya Angelou, “Still I Rise”