Juneteenth: The Celebration of Freedom
We live in an era when choices may seem confusing or overwhelming. We may think it’s
hard to know who to trust, especially as we choose our future leadership. There are times
when small indicators help us to make choices, and at other times, we have to rely on
history to inspire us. Juneteenth is the eleventh American federal holiday and the first to
obtain legal observance as a federal holiday since Martin Luther King, Jr. Day was
designated in 1983.
Juneteenth has previously been known as Emancipation Day, Freedom Day, Jubilee Day,
and Black Independence Day, but until recently, African Americans knew of the celebration
of this freedom only sporadically. The federal holiday brings it to the forefront of everyone’s
mind. Resiliency begins with awareness and continues with having compassion for
ourselves and others. We must remember.
The day is significant for a variety of reasons. For nearly two years, our African American
ancestors toiled in the hot sun and endured inhumane conditions when they were legally
free. They endured in spite of untruths. As resilient progeny, we rise again and again on the
shoulders of our ancestors and might agree that we are beneficiaries of the strength and
fierce resolve of enslaved Africans and abolitionists like Harriett Tubman. But you might not
know, for example, Benjamin Lay, an 18th century Quaker abolitionist who had a vehement
opposition to slavery, or Olaudah Equiano, who was kidnapped from Nigeria and
purchased his freedom with hard work, and Elizabeth “Bett” Freeman, who escaped and
sued the state of Massachusetts for her freedom. We must remember.
Our existence is conditioned by how we remember. White abolitionists knew the travesty of
slavery, the “peculiar institution,” as Southern politician in 1830 John C. Calhoun called it.
They knew. We cannot forget.
As a proponent of mental resilience, I believe that awareness is a building block of fierce
resilience and our survival and that we can build new understandings of freedom. We can
free our minds to acknowledge who has gone before us, their view of life as a necessary
journey fraught with trouble, with freedom in their minds, clear-eyed about when they
needed help and when they could help themselves. If our minds are not free of the clutter
of fear and negativity, we cannot be truly free.
Let us practice discernment. When the information is clearly in front of us, we must
remember to show others the way and share our view of freedom. And when others
attempt to hide the truth from us, let us have curious minds, hopeful minds, and know that
our choices create a legacy.
On Wednesday, June 19, 2024, Juneteenth, citizens will celebrate the date in Texas, the
westernmost US territory, when Union troops delivered the following announcement more
than two years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation:
“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
rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection
heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired laborer.”
Gordon Granger, Union General, June 19, 1865
On June 17, 2021, President Joe Biden signed a bill making Juneteenth a national holiday.
The name is a play on the date of the announcement ending enslavement on June 19, 1865,
after 246 years of slavery in the United States. Juneteenth has significance for African
Americans beyond its designation as a holiday. It is a reminder of strength and endurance
in the face of devastating cruelty and an adirmation of survival.
Celebrations occur throughout the African diaspora, including commemorations of
Emancipation Days in the islands of Martinique, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, and
other nations in the Diaspora. Celebrations include speeches, pageants, poetry
recitations, discussions of contemporary events and ongoing struggles.
As we celebrate the announcement of legal liberation on Juneteenth, we have an
opportunity to reflect on the evolving promise of a nation that values freedom and justice
for everyone.
By Eleanor Hooks, Ph.D
www.smartchangegroup.com
https://www.eleanorhooks.substack.com
for a public blog called “Does It Matter?”
Author of I Am Well Where It Really Matters; Meaning from Cancer and 5 previous books.