Today is Juneteenth Day. This day marks the end of slavery in the seceded states on June 19, 1865. Here’s what happened on that day:
Juneteenth (a portmanteau of June and nineteenth) (also known as Freedom Day, Jubilee Day, and Liberation Day) is an unofficial American holiday and an official Texas state holiday, celebrated annually on the 19th of June in the United States to commemorate Union army general Gordon Granger’s reading of federal orders in the city of Galveston, Texas, on June 19, 1865, proclaiming all slaves in Texas were now free. Although the Emancipation Proclamation had formally freed them almost two and a half years earlier, and the American Civil War had largely ended with the defeat of the Confederate States in April, Texas was the most remote of the slave states, with a low presence of Union troops, so enforcement of the proclamation had been slow and inconsistent (Source).
Think of these slaves, hearing the decree, that they were now free! They must have felt shocked and then filled with joy. What a beautiful moment! What a day to celebrate! That’s what people began to do. Here’s how the celebration of the day began:
The original celebration became an annual one, and it grew in popularity over the years with the addition of descendants, according to Juneteenth.com, which tracks celebrations. The day was celebrated by praying and bringing families together. In some celebrations on this day, men and women who had been enslaved, and their descendants, made an annual pilgrimage back to Galveston (Source).
And here’s how people often celebrate it today: “Today, while some celebrations take place among families in backyards where food is an integral element, some cities, like Atlanta and Washington, hold larger events, like parades and festivals with residents, local businesses and more (ibid.).”
For most of my life, I had no idea what Juneteenth was. I began thinking about race issues differently, however, when Sean Lucas stood up in 2015 at our General Assembly in Chattanooga. He offered a personal resolution that said, among many other things: “Whereas, many of our conservative Presbyterian churches at the time not only failed to support the Civil Rights movement, but actively worked against racial reconciliation in both church and society.” He said that the General Assembly needed to acknowledge that we had done this and essentially say, “we’re sorry” (read it here). I was only dimly aware of the history of what had happened in our churches in the South, but this resolution made sense to me.
I began a process of re-thinking whether I had really understood accurately what had gone on in this country. I started listening more to those in our denomination and elsewhere who put an emphasis on racial reconciliation. In the course of listening, I saw, “Happy Juneteenth.” I had no idea what it meant. So, I looked it up. I realized that it was a huge deal for African-Americans, and yet I was completely unaware of it. On the other hand, it seemed like a great thing to celebrate with them!
That experience is a good reminder to me that I’ve got a lot of listening still to do. I’ve got a lot to learn.