Celebrating Juneteenth

For many, Juneteenth represents the end of slavery in the United States. However, as with most things, it’s a bit more complicated than that.

Juneteenth represents June 19, 1865, and is a combination of the words June and Nineteenth. On that day, federal orders that all previously enslaved people were free in states that seceded from the Union were read by Union Gen. Gordon Granger in Galveston, Texas, though Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee had surrendered at the Appomattox Courthouse April 9, 1865. While Lee surrendered then, there were other generals who had not and it took some time. Also, Texas was the furthest slave state and word moved slowly. The first celebration of Juneteenth was a year later and was centered with the church. Over the years, celebrations of what is considered the “second independence day” have ebbed and flowed.

Juneteenth is considered to be the day to celebrate the end of slavery in the United States of America, yet, the actual eradication of the terrible sickness with which this nation was born was not immediate and actually lingered to the ratification of the 13th Amendment.

Some might contend the battle to end slavery took decades and began as soon as the Constitution was ratified in 1787. The first legislative act of the abolitionist movement was in Pennsylvania in 1780 with a gradual end. In Massachusetts, slavery was abolished in 1783 and it ended in the northern states by 1804. Compromise after compromise with the southern states were made to no avail, leading to the election of president Abraham Lincoln, who was an anti-slavery Republican. Soon after, southern states — but not all slave states — seceded from the Union.

Because of the concept of states’ rights codified in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, specifically the 10th amendment, Lincoln believed he could not end slavery at the federal level, but could do so militarily in those states that had seceded.

The Emancipation Proclamation was intended for that. The executive order was issued Sept. 22, 1862, and went into effect Jan. 1, 1863, and essentially freed 3.5 million slaves in the Confederate states. A slave in Confederate territory taken over by Union troops or who had run away across Union lines, was free. Of course, it took the fighting of the Civil War to do that. And while the war was considered over with Lee’s surrender April 9, 1865, it took some time to get word to Texas.

And while Juneteenth is looked upon as the end of slavery and should be widely celebrated as such, it still took some time for slavery to be completely abolished in the United States — specifically in the border states that still had slavery, however, did not secede with the Confederate states. Those were Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri and the newly formed West Virginia. The official end of slavery took the 13th Amendment, which was passed in the Senate April 8, 1864, then the House of Representatives Jan. 31, 1865, ratified by the states Dec. 6, 1865, then adopted Dec. 18, 1865. While the other border states ended slavery before this time, Kentucky and Delaware held out until the end of 1865, with the ratification of the 13th Amendment and slavery’s formal end. Most know the 13th Amendment was one of three reconstruction amendments passed by Congress in the aftermath of the Civil War. The 13th Amendment abolished slavery, the 14th Amendment, adopted July 9, 1868, established equal protection under the law and the 15th Amendment, which established equal rights, was ratified Feb. 3, 1870. Before the 14th and 15th amendments, however, the official proclamation ending the Civil War was signed by President Andrew Johnson Aug. 20, 1866, which aligned with the establishment of a new state government for Texas.

We, as a nation, celebrate the Fourth of July as our Independence Day, but we must also recognize it was not independence for all. Juneteenth speaks to that. The more we learn about what happened in the past, the more we can be prepared for the progress still to be made. Juneteenth is a good day to reflect on that.

Jon Mays is the editor-in-chief of the Daily Journal. He can be reached at jon@smdailyjournal.com. Follow Jon on X @jonmays.