Juneteenth is a 155-year-old holiday, the oldest to commemorate the end of slavery in the United States.
It was created in 1865, marking June 19, 1865, the day word arrived in Galveston, Texas, that enslaved people had been freed. The news arrived in Galveston more than two and a half years after Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. It had taken effect on Jan. 1, 1863.
Juneteenth was embraced by the African American community, but historically has not been as widely accepted as other national occasions. It is not a federal holiday. Texas was first to recognize Juneteenth as a state holiday.
A variation of the Juneteenth flag
Juneteenth became much more widely known when President Donald J. Trump announced he would reopen his presidential campaign on Juneteenth, 2020, in Tulsa, in the wake of protests about police brutality against African Americans. The venue was also problematic. That was the scene of a 1921 riot that has been called one of the worst racially motivated massacres in U.S. history. In it, whites attacked blacks, killing hundreds, destroying their businesses and the homes of thousands. News of the riot, like the end of slavery in Texas, was not widely disseminated.
Announcing the reopening of a presidential campaign in the city where this massacre occurred 99 years ago on a holiday celebrated for ending enslavement of African Americans has been political dynamite.
Learn more about Juneteenth and other issues in “100 Questions and Answers About African Americans.” It is available from Amazon or the Front Edge Publishing bookstore.
I hold that any “teenth” (13th thru 19th) in the month of June would have the same result, namely “Juneteenth.” An amalgamation of June and nineteenth would have to be more like “Ju-nine-teenth.” Not a word that rolls off one’s tongue with ease, though.
I know why we have Juneteenth and what it stands for BUT the article – interesting as it is – it doesn’t tell the meaning of the word.