06/19/2020
Celebrating Juneteenth
Office of Diversity, Concordia College 2020
Today is Juneteenth Day, a major holiday in African American history which commemorates the end of slavery in the United States. The Office of Diversity invites you to take time to reflect on the meaning of Juneteenth for our country at this time of heightened awareness of the ongoing reality or racial injustice.
The United States has struggled to fully recognize Juneteenth. Many white Americans know little about this important holiday. In this message I provide some historical context and briefly comment on the relationship between the end of slavery and our own current moment in history. I also provide resources for learning more about Juneteenth and a few suggestions for how to celebrate it.
Juneteenth is a day which commemorates the announcement of the end of slavery by Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger in Galveston, Texas on June 19, 1865. Juneteenth is derived from combining two words, “June” and “nineteenth” and, according to Henry Louis Gates, is ‘today the most popular celebration of emancipation from slavery in the United States’. It is a commemoration of freedom from slavery. Although it is not a federal holiday, Juneteenth is observed in 47 states and Washington DC.
Historically, Juneteenth celebrations have included reflection, music, food, especially barbecuing, dressing up, political activism, church services, and sports.
The history of Juneteenth is symbolically interesting. It starts not with the Emancipation Proclamation by Abraham Lincoln in 1863. It starts two and a half years later in Texas. This delay which is explained, among other things, by distance, by how slowly news traveled in those days, and by the resistance from slavers that Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger encountered on the way to Texas, is a symbolic reminder that although we have come a long way from the days of slavery, freedom for African American people has been continually deferred.
As we commemorate the end of slavery today we must not forgot that emancipation was followed by ongoing acts of racism, lynchings of blacks, and by Jim Crow. We must not forgot that for a long time African Americans could not vote or attend the same colleges and universities as whites, they could not attend the same churches, and they could not drink water from the same fountains until the 1960s. We must also not forget the more than 300 people who were murdered by white supremacists in Tulsa on May 31- June 1 1921 and the long history of lynching of black people, including three black men, Elias Clayton, Elmer Jackson, and Isaac McGhie on June 15, 1920 in Duluth, Minnesota.
Celebrating Juneteenth this year will be marked by the energy of demonstrations and protests against the killings by police of George Floyd, Brianna Taylor, Tony McDade, Rayshard Brooks, and Ahmaud Arbery, among many others. These protests are calling us to recognize and affirm that Black Lives Matter, they are calling for police reform, the end of racism, and for social justice.
All of this should remind us, again, that although slavery was abolished in 1863, freedom is still long in coming. This year Juneteenth also coincides with Covid19, which has exposed deep structural injustices along racial lines: African-Americans are being infected by this virus and are dying in disproportionate numbers because of health inequities.
This year Juneteenth is an opportunity for all of us at Concordia College to support African Americans in their ongoing struggle against racism, to stand in solidarity with them, to participate in celebrations, to protest social injustice, set time aside to learn about African-American history, and to commit and recommit to anti-racist actions to create an inclusive and just world. This is a time to remember where we have come from and where we need to go to become a more inclusive, more just, and a more perfect union.
How to Celebrate Juneteenth:
Juneteenth Music Festival: https://www.juneteenthmusicfestival.com/
Read the Emancipation Proclamation: https://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=false&doc=34&page=transcript
Visit the National Museum of African American History and Culture: https://nmaahc.si.edu/blog-post/celebrating-juneteenth
Participate in Juneteenth Celebrations
Resources: Learn more about Juneteenth:
What is Juneteenth: https://www.pbs.org/wnet/african-americans-many-rivers-to-cross/history/what-is-juneteenth/
Juneteenth 2020: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jun/17/juneteenth-2020-anti-racist-uprisings?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
Juneteenth Explained: https://www.vox.com/2020/6/18/21294825/history-of-juneteenth
Juneteenth: A Belated Liberation: https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2020/06/juneteenth-reflecting-on-a-belated-liberation/613303/
Freedom Realized Freedom Delayed: https://www.pvamu.edu/tiphc/research-projects/juneteenth-the-emancipation-proclamation-freedom-realized-and-delayed/
