What Is Juneteenth? And Why That Day?

As most everyone knows, Juneteenth Day is a National Holiday in the United States. It is a day that is celebrated today on June 19. It is supposed to be a day to commemorate the emancipation of slaves in the United States. From what I gather, even though I'd never heard of it until it was made into a National Holiday, supposedly it's been a day that many Black Americans have called "Black Independence Day," "Emancipation Day," "Jubilee Day," "Juneteenth Independence Day," and even "Juneteenth National Independence Day." Yes, in reality, it was a day celebrated in Texas and not very many other places to my knowledge. 

Why Texas you ask? Well, on September 22nd, 1862, with the Civil War raging, Republican President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. The Emancipation Proclamation went into effect on January 1, 1863. It declared slaves living in the Confederate states to be free. 

President Lincoln announced the Emancipation Proclamation which was an edict to free the slaves of the Southern states of the Confederacy which also included Texas. As most know, President Lincoln's Presidential Proclamation, that Executive Order, did not free slaves in border states of Delaware, Maryland, and West Virginia. In fact, as many will point out, the Emancipation Proclamation did not end slavery in the states that remained in the Union during the Civil War -- only in the Confederate states.

To be historically correct, while the Emancipation Proclamation freed the slaves of the Southern states of the Confederacy, the rest of those enslaved and those in "forced labor" were not freed until the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution on April 8th, 1864. Democrats who were fighting for the Confederacy and tried to keep chattel slavery intact were out voted by Republicans who fought to free slaves.

So again, why Texas you ask? That has to do with how the news of the Emancipation Proclamation spread and where it spread to. 

So how did the word spread that the Emancipation Proclamation was issued, and that slaves in Confederate states were freed? Well, it is said that news of President Lincoln's proclamation relied mostly on the advance of Union troops during the Civil War. 

Because Texas was the most remote Confederate state at the time, the folks there were among the last to get the news about the proclamation. Supposedly, as the legend goes, it took more than two years for news of the Emancipation Proclamation to reach the state of Texas. And frankly, that didn't happen until Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas, on June 19th, 1865. That was the day that the people in state of Texas were informed that slavery had been abolished in Confederate states. It happened to be the same day the folks in Texas were told that the war had ended. 

On April 2nd, 1865, Richmond, Virginia, which was the Confederate capital had fallen to Union troops. Officials in the Confederate government, including President Jefferson Davis, fled as fast as they could while evading arrest and the possibility of being shot. After Richmond had fell, Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered the Confederate Army at Appomattox on April 9th. So, when on June 19th, 1865, Union General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, to proclaim the war had ended, he also advised those there that slavery had ended in the Confederate states. 

Legend says that the free slaves in Galveston, Texas, immediately began to celebrate with song and dance. Since that was one of the last places to get the news of the proclamation, June 19th is now celebrated as a Fedearl Holiday. It's official name is Juneteenth National Independence Day.

While Juneteenth is now seen as the "National Independence Day" for some, I will always refer to July 4th as America's National Independence Day. 

After all, the 4th of July is the day that we Americans commemorate the Declaration of Independence, which was ratified by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776. It is that day when Americans put everything on the line to establish our great nation, the United States of America. And yes, it is a day when we remember how thousands of Americans died to establish our freedoms. 

Now, before someone writes to tell me that there is nothing wrong with Black Americans having their own separate Independence Day from the rest of America, the only question that I have is why descendants of slaves, whether they are African slaves or Irish slaves or Chinese slaves, celebrate the start of their freedom on the day the proclamation was read instead of on the day it was issued. 

I cannot understood why June 19th is celebrated as "Black Independence Day," "Emancipation Day," "Jubilee Day," "Juneteenth Independence Day," and even "Juneteenth National Independence Day" by Black Americans -- when in reality, September 22nd was the day when President Lincoln freed the slaves in Confederate states? Of course, the answer to that question is something that I will never understand.

Tom Correa