Why Celebrating Juneteenth is More Important Than Ever
Juneteenth this year marks the 160th Anniversary of the day Union Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger led soldiers to Galveston, Texas to proclaim that slaves in the state were now free. After the Emancipation Proclamation of January 1, 1863, and the official end of the Civil War on May 26, 1865, Confederate states, including Texas, had been attempting to keep hold of their slaves for as long as possible. Many of their slaves had not been informed that they had been freed or that the Confederacy had even lost the war; Union soldiers were then sent to physically go to each of the Confederate states and remind (or in the case of slaves, inform) everyone that slaves in those states had been freed. June 19th, or “Juneteenth,” was the day Maj. Gen. Granger and his soldiers made it to Texas, the last Confederate state on their tour, to declare that the Emancipation Proclamation would be enforced, whether Texas slaveholders were ready for it or not.
ongress had already passed the Thirteenth Amendment, which proclaimed, “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction,” to the states for ratification as of February 1, 1865. Almost six months after Juneteenth, on December 6, 1865, Georgia became the 27th state to ratify the Thirteenth Amendment; the 3/4 states threshold needed to recognize the Thirteenth Amendment as a valid Amendment to the Constitution had finally been reached.
As a kid, my great-grandfather told me stories of how he fought in the Civil War to earn his freedom as a former slave, and how Juneteenth marked the day where he and others he fought with finally had hope that they and their families could be free. And so while some celebrate Independence Day on July 4th,many of us in the black community celebrate ours on Juneteenth—the day that our ancestors’ independence was finally proclaimed across the country, and the end of almost a century of slavery.
Original Meme by Sen
In a perfect world, we’d be able to say that slavery and oppression ended on Juneteenth. But unfortunately we haven’t been so lucky.
Many believe it was not a coincidence that the U.S. saw an immediate rise in “Black Codes”—frequently referred to these days as Jim Crow laws—right after the Thirteenth Amendment (which included an exception allowing for slavery and indentured servitude as a punishment for crimes) was certified. While former slaveholders could no longer own slaves outright, they could pass laws so restrictive that cities could effectively “reclaim” their former slaves by outlawing their very existence on state land. Sundown towns, for example, made existing in a town while black (either at all, or at the wrong time of day) a crime that could turn a freed black person back into a slave who would be “leased out” as free labor to private businesses such as the very plantations they had been freed from. This practice, called “convict leasing,” was not only a mechanism through which Southerners who had lost a free labor force could legally create another; it also became a more palatable way for Northerners to reap the benefits of free labor, without having to endorse slavery outright. Illinois was the first state to ratify the Thirteenth Amendment—and also the state with the most sundown towns in the country. Roads, railroads, buildings, and levees all across the country were built using convict labor.
When convict leasing was eventually banned, states merely innovated. Louisiana, for example, over time purchased 18,000 acres (mostly former plantation lands) to build a penitentiary to fit over 5,300 prisoners who pick cotton, corn, and other crops from the farmland, and who even cook and fish for the 1,800 prison staff who live on the prison grounds. And yes, that megaprison, named “Angola” after the country in Africa where most of the slaves in those former plantations were taken from and also known as “The Bloodiest Prison in the South,” still exists. Anywhere from 75 percent to 97 percent of the inmates sentenced at Angola will die there, regardless of how young they were when they arrived and despite the penitentiary’s mission statement which includes the goal of “reintigrat[ing] offenders into society.” In some respects, Angola (which has perpetuated its share of human rights violations) is an early prototype of prisons like CECOT (a megaprison in El Salvador also known for significant human rights violations).
So while slavery, technically, has been abolished for over a century, America never really gave up on recreating the free labor force it had lost. It’s likely not a coincidence that nationwide, black people make up almost 40 percent of the total prison population, despite only being 13 percent of the total U.S. population—or in other words, that black Americans are almost five times as likely to be incarcerated than white Americans. As Michelle Alexander put it in 2015, “More African American adults are under correctional control today—in prison or jail, on probation or parole—than were enslaved in 1850.” Old habits die hard.
Even in states that didn’t adopt the plantation-to-prison pipeline, the black community still had to overcome other de jure and de facto segregation schemes that prevented them from truly being free. Massachusetts in particular has long been home to some of the worst segregation in the country—Roberts v. City of Boston invented the “separate, but equal” standard later adopted by Plessy v. Ferguson; anti-integration “activists” in the 1970s were still saying “We may be guilty but we’ll still fight you. We might go out in back here & fight, and I might tear your eyes out. It’s wrong, maybe, but we’ll stand by our actions” (and no, they weren’t joking); Boston Public schools were still struggling to desegregate; and even in the late 1980s (yes, 40 years ago), Boston Housing Authority officials were steering black applicants away from white public housing, arguing they would not be safe. (BHA ended up being correct; one tenant reported an incident where their kids’ hands were tied behind their backs while lit firecrackers were put in their pockets.) Massachusetts remains one of the least-integrated states in the country (worse than even Alabama, South Carolina, and Oklahoma), with one of the worst bachelor’s degree attainment gaps in the country and the worst voter turnout gap in the country (based on the 2020 presidential election).
And it has been barely five years since the anniversary of the murder of George Floyd, a man who was suffocated to death because a convenience store employee accused him of buying cigarettes with a counterfeit $20 bill. His death came after many others in the black community, including Trayvon Martin (crime: walking down the sidewalk), Eric Garner (crime: selling a loosie), Walter Scott (crime: fleeing after being stopped for a broken taillight), Freddie Gray (crime: having a spring-assisted knife, which was legal under Maryland law), Philando Castille (crime: informing police that he was legally concealed carrying after being pulled over for a broken taillight), Tamir Rice (crime: playing with a toy gun in a park), John Crawford III (crime: walking around a Walmart with a BB gun he likely intended to buy), Elijah McClain (crime: looking “suspicious” and panicking after an officer behind him put him in a neck hold), Sandra Bland (crime: failing to use a turn signal), and Ahmaud Arbery (crime: going for a run).
Even in the face of all of these attempts to keep black people enslaved at worst, or “in their place” at best, the black community continued to forge a path forward, achieving momentous things only 160 years after being enslaved and in the face of unrelenting opposition. Slaves fought for and won their own liberation during the Civil War; finally gained recognition for black literature, music, and art; the Civil Rights Act was passed in 1964; the Voting Rights Act was passed in 1965; literary tests (used to prevent black citizens from voting) were banned in 1965; poll taxes were banned in 1966; the Fair Housing Act was passed in 1968; activists finally forced Boston Public Schools to desegregate in 1974; and the Black Lives Matter movement achieved numerous wins in its fight against police brutality. And a little over 142 years after the first Juneteenth, America elected its first black president, who asked us to choose “hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.”
The Trump Administration’s hope that we forget those achievements by erasing records of the achievements of black people throughout U.S. history, gutting many of the achievements of the Civil Rights Movement, and erasing (in some instances, literally) some of the achievements of the Black Lives Matter Movement, is exactly the reason why it’s especially important to celebrate Juneteenth this year, and every year going forward. On Juneteenth’s 160th anniversary, it’s important to remember the black men, women, and children who fought for their freedom from slavery, and continued to fight for their rights for more than 100 years after, to get to where we are now. It’s important to remember the sacrifices they made to achieve the significant civil rights advances that we enjoy today and that provide us with a roadmap for the future. And it’s equally important to celebrate how far they brought us and how starkly different the world is these days because of their courage and resiliency. My great-grandparents were slaves who would have been beaten if they had been caught reading; my grandparents lived during a time where people were killed for suggesting black people should be able to vote; my parents grew up in a time where children were still being physically threatened or beaten for trying to go to schools with white kids; and I was able to go to college, get a job, rent an apartment, and vote for two black presidential nominees. To be sure, my generation now faces its own challenges, but I am both humbled and inspired by how much I’m able to do today, because of how much my ancestors achieved before me.
So on Juneteenth I’ll be sure to celebrate that legacy, and the freedoms I would never have had, if those who came before me hadn’t risen to the challenge. And I’ll let the strength and solidarity of the holiday and what it represents sustain me in the coming months as I, too, rise to the occasion, to ensure their fight was not in vain. I hope you’ll join me, both in the celebration, and in the work to come.
"The Fifteenth Amendment. Celebrated May 19th, 1870", commemorative print published by Thomas Kelly. Art viia https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2003690776/
If you’re looking for ways to get involved (either by celebrating Juneteenth or volunteering for Juneteenth events), here are some potential events to check out:
Local organizations BlackBrownBoston, The Shirley-Eustis House, and For Black Girls are hosting their 3rd Annual Freedom Cookout on Juneteenth, from 11AM to 6PM at the Shirley-Eustis House.
The Cambridge Juneteenth Committee is hosting a parade and festival on Juneteenth from 10:30 - 4 PM. Mass 50501 will be tabling and offering other volunteers; consider volunteering if you have the day off.
Embrace Boston (whom Mass 50501 has worked with before) is hosting an Embrace Ideas Festival on June 18th and June 20th to celebrate Black Bostonians, past and present, who have worked hard to make Boston a much more equitable city, and to create a vision for continuing that work over the next five years.The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is hosting aFree Day for Juneteenth including exhibitions and programming centered on telling the stories of people of color, including stories of black queer artists and leaders.
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