Juneteenth

Texas Politicians Want to Erase What Happened Between Juneteenth and Jim Crow

by Jeffrey L. Littlejohn and Zachary Montz

Joshua Houston, long enslaved by Sam Houston, recognized that the collective work of securing freedom only began with the announcement of emancipation, and that teaching the state's history honestly was part of the struggle for an egalitarian society against people determined to stand against it. 

Juneteenth has Gone National—We Must Preserve its Local Meanings

by Tiya Miles

Juneteenth celebrations have long been couched in local Black communities' preserved rituals that express particular ideas about heritage and the meaning of freedom. While a national commemoration of emancipation is welcome, history will be lost if local observances are swamped by a national holiday.

Teaching Hard Histories Through Juneteenth

A celebration of freedom should put the work of the people who fought and struggled to achieve it at the center; thinking of freedom as something achieved instead of something granted. 

What to the Incarcerated Is Juneteenth?

by Antoine Davis and Darrell Jackson

"We prisoners who are left to deteriorate inside one of America's most inhumane systems are able to find joy in celebrating Juneteenth, but not without indignities."

"Oh, We Knowed What Was Goin’ On": The Myths (and Lies) of Juneteenth

by Clyde W. Ford

After the myths of Juneteenth are stripped away, the day symbolizes the incompleteness of the promise of emancipation. 

The Emancipation Proclamation did not End Slavery. Here’s what Did

by Clarence Lusane

Chattel slavery was ended by the enactment of the 13th Amendment. Whatever the merits of recognizing the Juneteenth holiday, it commemorates the specific emancipation of enslaved Texans, and not national abolition. 

The Truth About Black Freedom

by Daina Ramey Berry

Observing Juneteenth shouldn't be limited to commemorating a grant of freedom by the government; the deeper history of emancipation is of Black Americans demanding and pursuing freedom for themselves. 

What the Push to Celebrate Juneteenth Conceals

by Kellie Carter Jackson

"It is impossible to celebrate Juneteenth and simultaneously deny the teaching of America’s foundational legacy."

Event: History Matters with Annette Gordon-Reed, Historian & Author, “On Juneteenth” (Friday, June 18)

Jonathan Capehart will host a discussion with Annette Gordon-Reed of her new book "On Juneteenth" on Friday at 12:00 eastern. 

How Deep Is America’s Reckoning with Racism? (Review Essay)

by Kerri Greenidge

"Juneteenth has gained recent popular attention after white Americans responded to last summer’s mass protest movement in the most American way possible—through token gestures of “historical reckoning” rather than actual atonement through, say, restoration of Section 4b of the 1965 Voting Rights Act."

The Historian Annette Gordon-Reed Gets Personal in ‘On Juneteenth’

"In 'On Juneteenth' Annette Gordon-Reed leads by example, revisiting her own experiences, questioning her own assumptions — and showing that historical understanding is a process, not an end point."

Black Joy—Not Corporate Acknowledgment—Is the Heart of Juneteenth

by Kellie Carter Jackson

Companies and state governments are finally recognizing Emancipation Day as an official holiday, but black Americans have honored its significance all along.

Why Juneteenth Matters

by Robert Greene II

The contribution of Juneteenth by Black Texans to the broader Black American pantheon of celebrations and holidays should be cherished, just like that of the first Decoration Day held by Black South Carolinians in 1865.

Ida, Maya, Rosa, Harriet: The Power in Our Names

by Martha S. Jones

Among black women, names passed down represent the preservation of the memory and history of struggles for freedom. The author's name reflects those struggles at the intimate scale of family.

Growing Up with Juneteenth

by Annette Gordon-Reed

"I... did not know, as a child, how intensely African-Americans had fought to keep alive the memory of Juneteenth—to commemorate our ancestors’ struggles and their hopes, and to link them to our own."

Pacing the Struggle for Black Equality

by Darryl C. Mace and Joseph R. Fitzgerald

Black people continue to remind this nation that unless they are free, no one is free. Black liberation cannot be denied.

Make Juneteenth a National Holiday Now

by Peniel Joseph

Making a national holiday to honor the emancipation of enslaved people would help fulfill a "generational opportunity" to finally build the Beloved Community Martin Luther King Jr.  sought in his own lifetime.

GU272 Memory Project Launches on Juneteenth

In addition to documents, photographs and the indexed genealogies of thousands of descendants, the project includes recorded interviews with dozens of living descendants.

Juneteenth and Beyond: African American Emancipations Celebrations Since 1808

by Wilma King

June Nineteenth is widely celebrated for the abolition of slavery in Texas and the Confederate States in general. 

Juneteenth

What it is and why it's celebrated.