Happy Juneteenth!If youre like me, you only learned about this holiday in the past decade or so, and I bet many of you still dont know what it is – so let me tell you about the day America actually became free – or at least when it finally started pretending it believed its own rhetoric about liberty and justice for all.
June 19, 1865 was the day when Major General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, with 2,000 Union troops and announced General Order No. 3, and declared that the more than 250,000 enslaved people in Texas were free. This came a full two and a half years after Lincolns Emancipation Proclamation, which tells you everything you need to know about how seriously Texas took federal orders they didnt like.
You may be thinking that it took two and a half years for the news to get to Texas – but you would be wrong. The thing is, enslaved people in Texas already knew about the Emancipation Proclamation, many knew about it before their enslavers did. The problem wasnt communication; it was enforcement. Texas had spent the Civil War as a Confederate safe haven where slaveholders from other states moved their human property to avoid Union forces. The enslaved population there had actually grown from 182,566 in 1860 to over 250,000 by 1865.
Most people picture Granger dramatically reading his order from a balcony to cheering crowds. Thats Hollywood nonsense. The order was posted around Galveston at key locations and published in newspapers. It was written by his staff officer, Major Sam Collins III, and while it declared freedom, it also urged formerly enslaved people to remain quietly at their present homes and work for wages and warned they wouldnt be supported in idleness.
The racist stereotyping in the final sentence of Grangers order illustrated its complicated nature while foreshadowing that the fight for freedom would continue. But enslaved people focused on the crucial phrase: all slaves are free. Their response to continued bondage was simple: to hell with you.
What happened next is actually remarkable. By June 19, 1866 – just one year later – formerly enslaved people in Texas organized the first annual Jubilee Day celebrations. These werent just yard parties but powerful community gatherings that served as family reunions for finding separated relatives, political rallies teaching voting rights, and cultural celebrations preserving African American heritage.
The early celebrations established traditions that many people still participate in today. Red foods became central – red velvet cake, strawberry soda, barbecue – with red meant to represent resilience and joy. These communities showed remarkable determination to preserve their history, raising money to purchase emancipation grounds for celebrations that drew tens of thousands by the early 1900s.
But the holidays growth wasnt linear. Juneteenth celebrations declined significantly between 1890 and 1920 as many upwardly mobile African Americans focused on assimilation rather than celebrating their slave past. The Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s also overshadowed Juneteenth as attention focused on more modern struggles.
The revival came in 1968 when Ralph Abernathy strategically moved the Poor Peoples Campaigns final rally to June 19th, with over 50,000 participants gathering in Washington D.C. This sparked the modern resurgence, aligned with the Black Power movements emphasis on cultural pride.
Juneteenth spread across the nation through the Great Migration – between 1940 and 1970, more than five million Black people left the South, taking Juneteenth traditions to Los Angeles, Oakland, Seattle, and other cities. As historian Isabel Wilkerson writes, The people from Texas took Juneteenth Day to Los Angeles, Oakland, Seattle, and other places they went.
The path to official recognition required decades of political advocacy. Al Edwards, a Texas legislator, literally ran for office in 1978 with the mission of making Juneteenth a state holiday. Colleagues left red soda on his desk to mock him, and some Black constituents told him to stop bringing up old history. Edwards made strategic compromises – including agreeing to also recognize Confederate Heroes Day – to get Juneteenth passed in 1979. Texas became the first state to make it an official holiday in 1980.
By 2023, at least 28 states and Washington D.C. recognized Juneteenth as a public holiday. The transformation into a federal holiday happened with stunning speed after decades of groundwork.
The most prominent advocate was Opal Lee, a 94-year-old retired teacher from Fort Worth known as the Grandmother of Juneteenth. In 2016, at age 89, Lee walked 1,400 miles from Fort Worth to Washington D.C. to advocate for federal recognition. She organized annual 2.5-mile walks symbolizing the 2.5 years between the Emancipation Proclamation and its enforcement in Texas.
The 2020 Black Lives Matter protests following the police killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and other Black Americans created the political momentum needed for federal recognition. On June 15, 2021, the Senate passed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act by unanimous consent. The House passed it 415-14 on June 16, and President Biden signed it into law on June 17.
Biden called Juneteenth one of the greatest honors of his presidency, and the timing meant federal employees received an unexpected paid holiday that Friday.
In January 2025, President Donald Trump issued an executive order banning diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in federal agencies that has been interpreted as eliminating in-agency observance planning for cultural remembrance events, including Juneteenth. The White House has announced no formal plans to mark the Juneteenth holiday, which was celebrated with large parties attended by thousands under former President Biden.
Juneteenth marks our countrys second independence day – because July 4, 1776, sure as hell didnt include everyone. The holiday is considered the longest-running African-American holiday and has been called Americas second Independence Day.
Modern observance includes public readings of the Emancipation Proclamation, singing traditional songs like Swing Low, Sweet Chariot, and celebrations that emphasize teaching about African-American heritage. For many, Juneteenth is also a day of reflection and activism, with organizations using the occasion to advocate for social justice and address systemic inequalities.
Heres what Juneteenth really proves: that when people refuse to let their history die, it eventually becomes impossible to ignore. It took 155 years for this country to officially acknowledge what Black communities in Texas knew in 1866 – that freedom delayed is freedom denied, but freedom remembered is freedom preserved.
Think about the audacity required. Formerly enslaved people who had nothing but their memories decided those memories were worth celebrating every single year. Al Edwards endured mockery from his own colleagues. Opal Lee walked 1,400 miles at age 89 because she understood that some truths are worth wearing out your shoes for.
The fact that Juneteenth makes people uncomfortable is precisely the point. It forces America to confront the gap between its founding mythology and its actual history. July 4th celebrates the idea of freedom; Juneteenth celebrates the reality of it – messy, delayed, and incomplete as it was.