Happy Juneteenth
Isn't this a recently recognized Federal Holiday? I think it has only been a Federal Holiday since 2020, but maybe someone can correct me who knows more...
Wasn't taught in my schools either. They were mostly white. Go figure.
Sounds about right. I'll bet they didn't cover the Tulsa race massacre or the MOVE bombing either.
Or the CIA introducing crack into SCLA. Or the origins of American policing and what it means today. Or what redlining did to stifle black economic growth. Or how all of these things benefited the interests of white america and many of the luxuries you guys still enjoy today. Or pretty much anything else truthful yet inconvenient to many of you. If you can’t handle the truth was a person.
Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation January 1, 1863, freeing slaves. While the Emancipation Proclamation declared an end to slavery, it could not be enforced until Union troops advanced throughout the Confederate states. On June 19, 1865, Union forces arrived in Galveston, TX, the last critical mass of slavery in the Confederacy, to emancipate slaves and declare an end of slavery. That's why June 19 is celebrated.
*Ended slavery in the states in rebellion.
Sad that it took 2.5 years, and countless deaths, to get to a place where we always should have been.
If we’re going to be honest here, the emancipation proclamation only freed slaves in the confederate states. Lincoln didn’t want to free slaves in the Union states and piss off the slave states that had sided with the Union up to that point.
You are forgetting the legal component. Slavery was constitutionally protected. The president can't snap his fingers and unilaterally undo something protected by the constitution.
Lincoln argued that he could get away with it in areas of rebellion, because the constitution allowed him extra emergency war powers to preserve the Union and confiscating property to weaken an adversary was an established military precedent.
This is a good point. It’s still true that Lincoln was understandably worried about alienating Kentucky, Missouri, Maryland and Delaware but your point is well taken
Basically true, but what many still don't know is that what you said was only accurate for the Confederate states.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirteenth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution
There were still two states in the Union where slavery didn't end until ratification of the 13th Amendment in December 1865 by 75% of the existing 36 states. So, slavery continued to be legal in NJ and DE until Dec 1865, a full 6 months after Juneteenth. As well, MS, KY, NJ and DE all rejected the vote. Amazing and sickening.
I learned about all of those, smartass. I had never heard of Juneteenth until a couple years ago and didn't know it took two and a half years for the last state to accept the Emancipation. This should have been taught along with the aforementioned.
Serious answer coming from a history teacher. So the 10th Amendment leaves public education to the states, so history is taught differently across the 50 states. All states have different standards for what needs to be covered in all subjects across all grades. Traditionally, the southern states have taught the lost cause logic to the students who move through their public education system. That American Civil War was based on state rights, it was a war of northern aggression, and the confederacy was an honorable practice.
Further, states across the country due to the insanity of the GOP and right winged media have this belief that schools are indoctrinating their children with Critical Race Theory. Ohio, the state I teach in, is going to pass HB616, which would pull all state funding from a public district if a class or teacher teaches a “divisive concept.” This would include anything that relates to racism, individuals were judged differently based on race, the United States has ever participated in anything racist.
Growing up through the public school system of Ohio in the 90s and early 2000s the broad brushed story was that racism and slavery existed until the Lincoln freed the slaves, there was some bad stuff African Americans experienced until the 1960s but Dr. King ended that during the Civil Right Movement. Cleary is was crazy lacking.
Concepts like Juneteenth, Japanese internment camps,what slavery was actually like, redlining, African American GIs not qualifying for the GI Bill to buy houses, Tulsa Race Massacre, etc were never covered.
Many of my students in my 8th grade US history class are shocked during my unit on the African Slave Trade to find out that numerous groups of people around the world faced enslavement. I don’t get to fully cover everything that happened in world history but I can plug in a few missing concepts here and there. It is hard to manage when there is a specific timeframe and subject focus we have to cover.
I believe the country has also had a major issue by not placing an emphasis on civics/government/history/and social studies over the last 40-50 years in public schools as they strictly emphasize math, ELA, and science. This has directly led to a huge percentage of the population not having a clue on the history of our country and basic understanding of what the three branches of government are and what they’re supposed to do.
This is the most cogent post on this topic. Thank you for adding some reason and objectivity to this OP and refraining from an obviously ideologically-motivated and intolerant response, unlike many of the others.
There aren’t enough books to list all the things not learned in school.
Now that statement itself is a Deep Thought!
Probably the same reason most people don't know what the Tulsa Race Massacre was or if they did hear about it, it was called the "Tulsa Race Riot" and they thought it was black people rioting.
It's only going to get worse now that teachers are being threatened with prosecution if they teach anything about race that might make anyone feel negatively (e.g., "feel discomfort, guilt, anguish" in the Texas law) about the history of the country.
Juneteenth was a fairly big deal in Texas when I was growing up (at least I remember annual parades and a festival and whatnot) but apparently it just didn't get national attention.
Have you heard of the Orange Riots? How about the Labor Wars? Mountain Meadows Massacre? The mass shooting of 1949 by Charles Unruh (using a Lugur)? Or the 1955 bombing of an airplane in Denver? Or left wing terrorism in the 1910s? Or that FDR moved the Pacific Fleet to Pearl Harbor against the advice of the Pacific Fleet commanders before it was properly fortified? Or that Nat Turner’s rebels decapitated children during the revolt? Etc, etc.
There are huge amounts of history left out because it is inconvenient for narratives. It isn’t just conservatives who do this. Politics is absolutely corrosive for truth in history.
Race itself still isn’t discussed very well here no matter the political inclinations of the community. Whiteness and blackness are constructs that don’t make much sense in historical contexts outside of European colonialism in Africa and slavery in the Americas. Geography and history of regions and how they impact notions of race hasn’t been addressed on a mass scale which has led to complete ignorance of Americans of Nazi racial beliefs.
Juneteenth, Black Codes, later than realized imposition of Jim Crow, long time racial “intermixing”(thus making a mockery of the miscegenation laws that popped up in the mid-19th century) between whites and blacks most often by rape, countless race riots and massacres from 1865-1950…I learned all of this on my own after graduating college.
Unless people make an effort on their own they aren’t going to be exposed to most of what I just mentioned in school. The politics of the educators and public school system very much decide what kids will learn.
It’s a federal holiday as of 2021.
For the same reason Denzel Washington has only one academy award.
Pretty wild. The schools I attended didn't shy away from the horrors of slavery, never minced words, and I still don't remember hearing of it until the last couple years. We've all still got so much work to do.
You didn't hear much about it because it was a local holiday representing the freeing of a small percentage of slaves who were neither the first or last freed.
Modern people made a push to convert the local holiday to a national day.
Most freed people celebrated days of Jubilee in the late 1800s on September 22, January 1, December 6, or July 4.
December 6 makes the most sense as a day of Jubilee because that is when the last slaves were freed through the 13th Amendment.
As an ~25 year teacher of high school American history, here’s the simple answer…
We didn’t know about it either.
My first experience with internet access at my fingertips was in my college dorm. I didn’t get my first cell phone until I was 25 or 26. Our teachers taught us what their teachers taught them. But then the advent of the internet, and then the convenience of Wi-Fi plus the explosion in new information and we are the first generation of teachers who are challenging curricular norms.
And it’s hard not to appreciate the irony surrounding that calls we’ve heard over the past several years to stop teaching kids things they can Google as people who Google more things demand to know why what they just Googled wasn’t/isn’t taught in schools.
It's always been there in history and in the historical record but become more widely known the past few decades.
As a comparison, historians have known for a long time about Seneca Village, an African-American village of 200 people that got eliminated by eminent domain for Central Park in the mid-1800s, but it's only the past couple decades that there was any sign indicating its existence. Now there's been some study of the site, and this Juneteenth saw a celebration.
The work of historians is remembering the past and sometimes rediscovering it. Here's a New York Times article on Seneca Village and the celebration.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/19/nyregion/juneteenth-seneca-village.html
I've noticed on my Facebook feed two rather interesting trends.
1, loads of people and institutions such as universities and the NFL who bend over backwards to shout the importance of Juneteenth AND to say how they've always celebrated it. Three years ago and beyond, no such effort was made, as just for fun I browsed through a few of these timelines to prior June 19ths to observe radio silence. It's almost as if none of these had heard of it before but now want to make sure EVERYONE knows just how important the holiday is to ME!
2, Juneteenth is more important than Father's Day. Or ... why did they have to replace Father's Day with Juneteenth??
As for me personally. We learned in school the date of the Emancipation Proclamation. Sept 22. My favorite history teacher, the one who first inspired me to love history and critically analyze it, said that should be a holiday. I had never heard of Juneteenth. So I'm glad that there is some kind of holiday to celebrate the end of slavery because that era is such a stain on our country and a moral abomination wherever it is practiced. It is okay to admit you've never heard of it before, but to scream to high heaven about how important it has always been and how anyone who is unaware of the day is ignorant is a massive gas lighter like the recent episode of South Park changing Token's name to Tolkien and calling the audience a bunch of ignorant assholes. And as for Father's Day ... social media just loved controversies and opportunities to yell at each other. So whatever.
"2, Juneteenth is more important than Father's Day. Or ... why did they have to replace Father's Day with Juneteenth??"
1) Juneteenth is older than Father's Day - Father's Day was first celebrate in 1910 in Spokane, WA
2) Juneteenth is a federal and state holiday. Father's Day is not.
3) Juneteenth is always June 19. Father's Day is the 3rd Sunday in June. They won't be on the same day again until 2028.
Now this is irony. Our Goblin is celebrating???
Glad to see it actually as a nationally recognized holiday.
Great choice for a holiday! Have a great long weekend
Never understood Juneteenth - seems very Texas specific?
I know each state "abolished" slavery essentially as the Union army defeated the Confederacy and slaves were supposedly free, but it seems that the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, would be the more universal date?
As a poster above stated, June 19th, 1865 was the last emancipation of a large group of slaves, that being in Texas. Geographically this would make sense, being the western most stronghold of southern slavery in the US. I believe John Brown's abolitionists were fighting in the area (Kansas and Oklahoma) to ensure slavery did not spread in what was the new southwest years prior.
Would have been nice to learn a lot more about this in school, maybe even state by state how things fell. That said, no excuse for me not to go and read up on this now and get some more info.
I understand what you’re saying about the Emancipation Proclamation but in reality that didn’t do anything. Lincoln was issuing a statement saying enslaved individuals in areas of outward rebellion were free. This didn’t free anyone the same way Canada cannot ban the United States from consuming maple syrup.
This was a date where enslaved people were actually freed.
Saying that the Emancipation Proclamation didn't free anyone is like saying the Declaration of Independence didn't free anyone.
They both required an army to free people through battlefield victories. However, the vast majority of slaves would be in fact freed through the Emancipation Proclamation and therefore it did in reality have a massive impact.
It is also ironic to claim the Emancipation Proclamation didn't free anyone and then celebrate Juneteenth. What legal authority did General Granger have to announce slavery as dead in Texas? The Emancipation Proclamation is what he used legally.
Also - the Emancipation also allowed black men to serve in the US Army (the Navy had allowed it at the time). Previously some black men had officially served in the US Army during the War of 1812, but that had been reversed backwards until the Emancipation Proclamation.
Well the Deceleration of Independence didn’t officially free anyone either. The Americans had to win the revolution to have their freedom. George III didn’t read the DOI and suddenly go “well I guess I lost the colonies.”
The Emancipation Proclamation was essentially the same thing. Jan 1, 1863 was the middle of the Civil War. The confederacy didn’t hear that message and go “well Lincoln is in charge, we better free all the enslaved people here.” It was used as a way of “seizing property”, and getting other European countries to back off their support of the south.
You literally said that the Emancipation Proclamation "didn't do anything."
It changed the law and circumvented the constitutionally protected right of slavery in the areas under rebellion. Changing the law is a thing.
For a fact, the EP freed millions of slaves legally and did free some slaves on January 1, 1863 when it took effect.
You are confusing timing requiring battlefield wins as "not doing anything" with the legal shift caused by the EP.
Also, the EP allowed black men to join the US army as fighting men. That is something. The EP also encouraged massive amounts of slaves to escape on their own. That is something.
There is no logic behind saying the EP did nothing.
How did General Granger free slaves on Juneteenth? His order literally says in the first sentence that slavery has legally ceased to exist in Texas specifically due to the Emancipation Proclamation.
Why do you think freed slaves celebrated nationally in the late 1800s both September 22 (when the EP was announced) and January 1 (when the EP became law) as days of Jubilee?
What I am saying is the EP did not eliminate slavery in the Union or the Confederacy on Jan 1st, 1863. I gave the example of if Canada's PM issues a proclamation that US citizens could not consume maple syrup; do you believe that would stop US citizens from using maple syrup? Would US citizens follow Canada's law?
There were border states where slavery was still allowed. Lincoln did not want to emancipate everyone because he was worried about losing those states to the Confederacy and then DC would have been surrounded.
What I am saying about the Confederacy is they did not listen or believe the EP applied to them. In their opinion, they were a sovereign nation and did not need to listen to another country's laws. So when it was issued that was not an overall freeing of enslaved people who were living in the Confederacy. It would not be until 1865, after the South surrendered, and was brought back into the Union, that slavery would officially end in the United States (in the way that it had been practiced prior to the 13th Amendment). So if you want to believe the EP did in fact free all enslaved people, understand that it was not an immediate thing, it took 2.5+ years to be fully recognized.
I have two degrees in history and my master's degree is specifically on the politics of the US Civil War. I've already posted that I understand that it took battles to enforce the law (the Emancipation Proclamation is the law) and I've already posted in this thread that politically, militarily, and of course legally the emancipation proclamation couldn't go after the border states.
My point is, you said that the Emancipation Proclamation didn't do anything. This is false. This notion that the EP did nothing was started by the Lost Causers as part of the effort to minimize slavery's role in secession and therefore in the war as well.
The Emancipation Proclamation did a lot and it was felt like an earth quake politically at the time. The EP did the following:
(1) Gave the legal basis for the freeing of about 87% of the slaves.
(2) Did free a few slaves as early as January 1st, 1863.
(3) Allow black soldiers to serve in the US Army, which was huge militarily.
(4) Further discouraged European powers from interfering more on behalf of the South.
(5) Encouraged many slaves to escape their plantations.
(6) Gave a new bolt of energy to the abolitionist movement.
(7) Gave the North a dual purpose in the war instead of just preserving the Union.
My point is you can't say the EP didn't do anything. It was a controversial and political earth quake with huge ramifications to create the legal basis for freeing of slaves.
Comparatively - Brown v, Board instantly desegregated less than 0.1% of what was segregated. It still would be foolish to say it didn't do anything, it laid the legal basis for further desegregation and inspired countless people to push for more desegregation.
Congrats on your degrees and specialties. Your master's degree sounds especially interesting to me and I would have much rather have done that. I would have loved to go beyond my dual history and AYA education major in undergrad but as a public school teacher, it made more sense to do my master's in educational administration and my doctorate in continued educational leadership.
I think we just are looking at things a bit differently and I made the mistake of saying the EP did nothing when what I was trying to say was that it did not instantly free enslaved people throughout the United States when comparing it to Juneteenth; where some were of the belief that as soon as the EP went into effect that all enslaved people were instantly freed.
Sorry for the confusion there. Good discussion and have a nice rest of your summer.
While we celebrate the ending of slavery here, let's also remember the rest of world still has a slavery problem with these being the top 10 countries that still enslave people:
- India - 7,989,000
- China - 3,864,000
- North Korea - 2,640,000
- Nigeria - 1,386,000
- Iran - 1,289,000
- Indonesia - 1,220,000
- Congo (Democratic Republic of) - 1,045,000
- Russia - 794,000
- Philippines - 784,000
- Afghanistan - 749,000
https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/countries-that-still-have-slavery
And a list of companies that use or contract with companies that use slave labor:
Abercrombie & Fitch, Acer, Adidas, Alstom, Amazon, Apple, ASUS, BAIC, Motor, BMW, Bombardier, Bosch, BYD, Calvin Klein, Candy, Carter’s, Cerruti 1881, Changan Automobile, Cisco, CRRC, Dell, Electrolux, Fila, Founder Group, GAC Group (automobiles), Gap, Geely Auto, General Motors, Google, Goertek, H&M, Haier, Hart Schaffner Marx, Hisense, Hitachi, HP, HTC, Huawei, iFlyTek, Jack & Jones, Jaguar, Japan Display Inc., L.L.Bean, Lacoste, Land Rover, Lenovo, LG, Li-Ning, Mayor, Meizu, Mercedes-Benz, MG, Microsoft, Mitsubishi, Mitsumi, Nike, Nintendo, Nokia, The North Face, Oculus, Oppo, Panasonic, Polo Ralph Lauren, Puma, Roewe, SAIC Motor, Samsung, SGMW, Sharp, Siemens, Skechers, Sony, TDK, Tommy Hilfiger, Toshiba, Tsinghua Tongfang, Uniqlo, Victoria’s Secret, Vivo, Volkswagen, Xiaomi, Zara, Zegna, ZTE.
Great post, if I didn’t spend $$ at immoral companies I wouldn’t be able to shop anywhere.
Nike is particularly egregious but seemingly everyone gives them a free pass.
It's hard but it is completely possible to vote with one's dollars.
It takes work though and that's why most people don't it.
You dollars support the evils of the USG. It’s literally impossible to be free of supporting evil in the modern world.
Lol who gives Nike a free pass? They’re probably the most mentioned company when it comes to it
Slavery operated in the first civilizations (such as Sumer in Mesopotamia, which dates back as far as 3500 BCE). Slavery features in the Mesopotamian Code of Hammurabi (c. 1860 BCE), which refers to it as an established institution. Slavery was widespread in the ancient world.
Is there a point this this? It should be noted noticed that the ancient world institution was radically different than the peculiar institution of American slavery.
I will bite. I hope people venture to the link you provided and read what they have to say regarding this. The definition of slavery now encompasses a lot more than chattel slavery which was the root of the US Civil War. Comparing current practices to that is obfuscation and just trying to make yourself feel good about it.
"...the U.S. Department of State defines modern slavery as "the act of recruiting, harboring, transporting, providing, or obtaining a person for compelled labor or commercial sex acts through the use of force, fraud or coercion." Similarly, a 2017 report from the International Labour Office describes modern slavery as not just laborers "owned" by other people, but also forced marriages, state-imposed forced labor, and victims of human trafficking and sexual exploitation.
Forms of modern slavery
Forms of modern slavery include slavery by "ownership" ("chattel" slavery), government conscription (forced military service or government labor), forced prison labor, forced migrant labor, debt bondage (slavery until debts are paid), sexual slavery, forced marriage/child marriage, child labor, and forced begging...."
I can only comment on what's happening in India. A lot of these issues are economically driven. Lack of opportunities means a certain group of people can exploit others. There are efforts in both Governmental and NGO settings that are working to remove these practices. With economic improvement, things will improve. And they are. I do feel ashamed that people are still exploited in India.
Growing up in Ann Arbor, the sentiment was there. But history for schoolchildren is very general. I remember the focus was on the end of slavery. We took a lot of pride that there were still private homes in Ann Arbor that had secret rooms used for the Underground Railroad.
In the '60s, the UM was a major player in the civil rights movement. Black students occupied classes, often with the support of professors. It was non-violent and discussions were encouraged.
Juneteenth was mostly a Texas concept until about 2000. If you look at the Juneteenth flag, created in 1997, the lone star at the center represents Texas.
It's taken a long time to get where we are today, and I'm sure decades from now, we'll look back at today and marvel at how far we've come since now.
Sadly, slavery is alive and well. Let’s not pretend man’s inhumanity to man will never end. Happy Sunday!
Given current trends, I only hope we don't look back and see how far we've regressed.
Yes Happy Juneteenth...