Juneteenth Is the Oldest Nationally Celebrated Commemoration of the Ending of Slavery in the United States

Juneteenth is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States. On June 19, 1865, Union soldiers led by Major General Gordon Granger landed at Galveston, Texas, with news that the war had ended and that the enslaved were now free. This was two and a half years after President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, which had become official January 1, 1863. The Emancipation Proclamation had little immediate impact on Texas, due to the minimal number of Union troops stationed there to enforce the new Executive Order. However, with the surrender of General Lee in April of 1865, and the arrival of General Granger’s regiment, the forces were finally strong enough to influence and overcome the resistance. Please read through this statement for more details on the history of Juneteenth, compiled by Hanson Bridgett’s Ambra Jackson. At the end of this history is a list of Juneteenth-related events in and around Hanson Bridgett’s office locations, and links to several Juneteenth virtual events. We encourage all people at our firm and everyone reading this history to seek out one of these in-person or virtual events this weekend so that we can all continue taking Real Action Calling for Equality. In honor of Juneteenth, Hanson Bridgett is creating a new time-off benefit for employees to be used for community service or activism around racial equity and justice. We encourage everyone reading this history to raise the possibility of similar benefits with their companies. The two-and-a-half-year delay in announcing freedom to those enslaved has been the subject of much consternation and study, both immediately after the first Juneteenth and continuing to today. Later attempts to explain this delay have yielded several versions that have been handed down through oral history over the years. Often told is the story of a messenger who was murdered on his way to Texas with the news of freedom. Another story tells of the news being deliberately withheld by slaveholders in order to maintain the labor force on the plantations. And still another story tells of federal troops actually waiting for slaveholders to reap the benefits of one last cotton harvest before going to Texas to enforce the Emancipation Proclamation. All or none of these stories could be true, and for some people at the time, President Lincoln’s authority over the rebellious states was in question. Whatever the reasons, the fact is that Black people in Texas remained enslaved for two-and-a-half years beyond what the law said. 2 General Order Number 3 One of General Granger’s first orders of business was to read to the people of Texas President Lincoln’s General Order Number 3. General Order Number 3 began with this significant statement: “The people of Texas are informed that in accordance with a Proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired laborer.” The reactions to this profound news ranged from pure shock to immediate jubilation. While many lingered at the site of the announcement to learn of this new supposed “employer/employee” relationship, many left immediately out of distrust of their former “masters”—a direct testament to the horrific conditions on the plantations and the long-overdue fight for freedom. Even with nowhere to go, many formerly enslaved people felt that leaving the plantation would be their first grasp of freedom. The Northern states in America were a logical destination, having been “free” states prior to the Civil War. For many, these Northern states represented true freedom. For others, the desire to reach family members in neighboring states drove migration to Louisiana, Arkansas, and Oklahoma. Settling into these new areas as free men and women brought on new realities and the challenges of establishing a heretofore non-existent status for Black people in America. This decades-long process of migration by formerly enslaved persons to other parts of the country is referred to as The Great Migration. If you would like to read more about how The Great Migration proceeded, the RACE Task Force strongly recommends “The Warmth of Other Suns,” by Isabel Wilkerson. As the years passed after June 1865, recounting the memories of the first announcement of freedom and the attendant festivities would serve as motivation as well as a release from the growing pressures Black people encountered in their new territories. The celebration of June 19, 1865, was coined “Juneteenth” and grew with more participation from descendants. The Juneteenth celebration became a time for reassuring each other, for praying, and for gathering remaining family members. Juneteenth continued to be highly revered in Texas decades later, with many former slaves and descendants making an annual pilgrimage back to Galveston on this date. Juneteenth Festivities and Food Throughout the years of Juneteenth celebrations, a range of activities were organized by Black people to convene community, many of which continue in tradition today. Rodeos, fishing, barbecuing, and baseball are just a few of the typical Juneteenth activities you may witness still today. In addition, Juneteenth festivities almost always focused on education and self-improvement. Thus, at community gatherings, guest speakers are often brought in and elders are called upon to recount events of the past. Prayer services have also been a major part of these celebrations. Communal cooking and breaking of bread became central to Juneteenth celebrations, as the main way to connect with and show love to the community. Certain foods became popular and subsequently synonymous with Juneteenth celebrations, such as strawberry soda-pop. More traditional and just as popular was the barbecuing, through which Juneteenth participants could share in the spirit and aromas that their ancestors—newly emancipated African Americans—would have experienced during their ceremonies. Hence, the barbecue pit is often established as the center of attention at Juneteenth celebrations. Food was abundant because everyone prepared a special dish for sharing. Meats such as lamb, pork, and beef, which were not available every day, were brought on this special occasion. A true Juneteenth celebration left visitors well satisfied and with enough conversation to last until the next. Dress was also an important element in early Juneteenth customs and is still taken seriously by many, particularly by the direct descendants of the original Juneteenth celebrations who have a direct connection to the holiday’s roots. During slavery, there were laws in many areas that prohibited or limited the clothing that enslaved people could wear. During the initial days of the emancipation celebrations, there are accounts of former slaves tossing their ragged garments into the creeks and rivers and adorning themselves with clothing taken from the plantations belonging to their former “masters.” 2 3 Juneteenth and Society In the early years, little interest existed outside the Black community for participation in Juneteenth celebrations. In some cases, non-Black Americans outwardly exhibited resistance to Juneteenth by barring the use of public property for festivities. Most Juneteenth festivities were then held in rural areas or around rivers and creeks that were away from hostile eyes, and that could provide for additional activities such as fishing, horseback riding, and large-scale barbecues. Often Black church grounds were the site for such activities. Eventually, as African Americans became landowners, land was donated and dedicated for these festivities. One of the earliest documented land purchases in the name of Juneteenth was organized by Rev. Jack Yates in Houston, Texas. This fundraising effort yielded $1000 and made possible the purchase of Emancipation Park in Houston, Texas, which is the epicenter for Juneteenth celebrations across America to this day. In Mexia, Texas, the local Juneteenth organization purchased Booker T. Washington Park, which had become an informal Juneteenth celebration site in 1898. There are numerous accounts of Juneteenth activities being interrupted and halted by white landowners demanding that “their laborers” return to work. However, it seems most allowed their workers the day off, and some even made donations of food and money. For decades these annual celebrations flourished, especially in Texas, and continued to grow nationwide with each passing year. In Booker T. Washington Park, as many as 20,000 African Americans once attended during the course of a week, making the festivities one of the state’s largest celebrations. Juneteenth Celebrations Decline in the Early 1900s Economic and cultural forces led to a decline in Juneteenth activities and participants beginning in the early 1900’s. The shift to formal classroom and textbook education in lieu of traditional home and family-taught practices unsurprisingly excluded lessons on Juneteenth and detail on the lives of former slaves. Classroom textbooks portrayed Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, as the date signaling the ending of slavery, and mentioned little or nothing about the delay in the announcement to the rest of American territories or the impact of General Granger’s arrival in Texas on June 19, 1865. The Great Depression forced many people off farms and into cities to find work, further dispersing Black communities in The Great Migration. In these urban environments, employers were less eager to grant leaves to celebrate Juneteenth. Thus, unless June19th fell on a weekend or holiday, there were very few participants available. July 4th was already the established Independence holiday in the country, and a rise in patriotism steered more toward this celebration. Resurgence The Civil Rights movement of the 50’s and 60’s yielded both positive and negative results for the Juneteenth celebrations. With the movement pulling Black youth into the struggle for racial equality, many linked these struggles to the historical struggles of their ancestors.

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