Juneteenth

President Abraham Lincoln announced plans to emancipate all enslaved persons in the United States in September of 1862, with his Emancipation Proclamation taking effect on January 1, 1863. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the end of the story. Word spread quickly to areas of the country under Union control, and into areas where Union soldiers—many of them black—carried the news to enslaved persons.

But in the border territories, the peculiar institution continued. Texas became a haven for slave owners looking to escape the reach of the Union Army, with hundreds of them fleeing to Texas with the enslaved persons in their households.

On June 19, 1865, Major General Gordon Granger arrived on Galveston Island to take command of 2000 Union troops. That day, General Granger issued this order:

“The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor. The freedmen are advised to remain quietly at their present homes and work for wages. They are informed that they will not be allowed to collect at military posts and that they will not be supported in idleness either there or elsewhere.” 

—General Orders, Number 3; Headquarters District of Texas, Galveston, June 19, 1865

For well over 100 years, Juneteenth, the celebration of General Granger’s order and the official end to slavery in the United States, was celebrated primarily by African Americans in the U.S. I know that I was an adult before I heard anything about Juneteenth, celebrated on June 19 each year. But five years ago, on June 17, 2021, President Biden signed a bill to make Juneteenth an official federal holiday, declaring, “Great nations don’t ignore their most painful moments. They don’t ignore those moments of the past. They embrace them. Great nations don’t walk away. We come to terms with the mistakes we made. And in remembering those moments, we begin to heal and grow stronger.”

As we approach another observation of Juneteenth, marking the 161^st anniversary of the end of the greatest stain upon the legacy of our nation, it is well to heed these words. Just as human beings are simultaneously saint and sinner, our institutions carry within them the memory of proud moments and grave mistakes. No institution is immune from the sinfulness that touches us all. What may differ is how we choose to mark and observe our mistakes. There is a human tendency to want to move on quickly, declare that all is well, and ignore any lasting repercussions. In failing to recognize Juneteenth for a century and a half, and in failing to learn from a long history of white supremacy, slavery, and segregation, we have been doomed to a repeating cycle of racist actions and policies.

Each year on June 19, though, we have the opportunity to dedicate ourselves anew to a different way of being: conscious anti-racism, clear inclusion of all of our neighbors, and advocacy for those who are still being left behind in our country. In this way, we recognize the errors of our past and move into the hope of our future.

I wish you a blessed and holy celebration of Juneteenth and a joyful journey toward the time when we will truly be all together in one place.