JUNTEENTH IN CONTEXT: Presidential Message on Juneteenth with a historical footnote

 

PRESIDENTIAL MESSAGE ON JUNETEETH
Melania and I send our best wishes to those celebrating Juneteenth.

 

On this day in 1865, Major General Gordon Granger of the Union Army arrived in Galveston, Texas, to declare the end of the Civil War and issue a long-awaited order freeing the remaining slaves in Texas.  Although President Abraham Lincoln had issued the Emancipation Proclamation more than two years earlier, the freedom of most slaves depended on the advancement of the Union Army, which brought with it enforcement of the Proclamation.  In Texas, General Granger’s order was a major step in our Nation’s effort to abolish slavery forever.

 

This historic moment would not have been possible without the courage and sacrifice of the nearly 200,000 former enslaved and free African Americans who fought for liberty alongside more than 2 million Union servicemen.  These brave individuals fought to defend the God-given rights of those unjustly held in bondage.

 

As a Nation, we vow to never forget the millions of African Americans who suffered the evils of slavery.  Together, we honor the unbreakable spirit and countless contributions of generations of African Americans to the story of American greatness.  Today and every day, we recommit ourselves to defending the self-evident truth, boldly declared by our Founding Fathers, that all people are created equal.

EDITOR'S NOTE: 

The above statements are presented as delivered from the White House press office verbatim.  The kind words in the joint statement from Pres. Trump and First Lady Melania encompass some of the history of Juneteenth, but lacks details that will enlighten those who are unfamiliar with it.  It is important to add historical context.  On July 4, 1776, America declared its independence from Great Britain while still practicing the enslavement of Africans.  Africans would not see independence from America's peculiar institution until nearly a century later and were still the last to know.

ASIDE: It is impossible to ignore the slave families being separated and the lack of information being shared when reflecting on slavery as Pres. Trump enforces a zero-tolerance policy (that was enacted in April of this year ) of separating immigrant children from their families at the U.S. Texas border today.  This inhumane treatment is an alarming reminder that America still has work to do in treating all people eqaully.

Observed in 45 states, Juneteenth  is known as Black or African American Independence Day.

Essentially, slavery was already over when Union soldier, Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, TX to make his proclamation.  Pres. Abraham Lincoln, by executive order, had already signed the Emancipation Proclamation two years earlier on January 1, 1863.  To some degree the delay in spreading the information was understandable.  It is hard to imagine today when news travels in seconds. but there were no phones, no Google, social media or GPS, and not everyone had access to the Pony Express mail delivery service.  Hundreds of thousands of slaves had missed the freedom memo! 

The exact time freedom came to Africans enslaved in America has long been questioned.  

Some believe it came about when Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered at the Appomattox Courthouse in Virginia in April of 1863. It is a widely held belief within the African American community in Lousiana and other states that when slaves were freed word did not spread fast enough leading to inconsistent dating as to when to commemorate its end.  The end of the Civil War in all states technically should have signaled the end of slavery. 

Another on-going question is why the holiday is called "Juneteenth," a phonetically unique spelling that in and of itself reflects the complexity of America's transition from slvery to freedom.   Because there was not a consensus about the actual abolition date of slavery, but it was generally known to have occurred in the middle of the month of June, the recognition of the release of slaves was called "Juneteenth,"  a combination of the month and non-specific "teen" date.  I was taught that rather than accepting an estimated date the creators.

According  to PBS's  Henry Louis Gates, Jr., an expert in African American History,  there were several other dates in history that could have been contenders for freedom anniversaries as follows:

* Sept. 22: the day Lincoln issued his preliminary Emancipation Proclamation Order in 1862

* Jan. 1: the day it took effect in 1863

* Jan. 31: the date the 13th Amendment passed Congress in 1865, officially abolishing the institution of slavery

* Dec. 6: the day the 13th Amendment was ratified that year

* April 3: the day Richmond, Va., fell

* April 9: the day Lee surrendered to Ulysses Grant at Appomattox, Va.

* April 16: the day slavery was abolished in the nation’s capital in 1862

* May 1: Decoration Day, which, as David Blight movingly recounts in Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory, the former slaves of Charleston, S.C., founded by giving the Union war dead a proper burial at the site of the fallen planter elite’s Race Course

* July 4: America’s first Independence Day, some “four score and seven years” before President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation