💖UNIQUE💖

The History of Juneteenth

New Post has been published on Black Then

Juneteenth Independence Day: Emancipation From Slavery

By Winfred Mukami “The moment the slave resolves that he will no longer be a slave, his fetters fall. Freedom and slavery are mental states” Mahatma Gandhi Emancipation from slavery for the four million African Americans enslaved before the civil war came in different forms. For many, it was in 1865 when Robert E. Lee, […]

The history of this celebration begins on January 1st 1863, when President Lincoln passed the Emancipation Proclamation, outlawing slavery in the United States and freeing over 500,000 enslaved African Americans. Sadly, the news of this monumental decision spread slowly and many people remained enslaved until the news reached them…two-and-a-half years later.

Finally, on June 19th, 1865,  Major General Gordon Granger arrived at Galveston to proclaim the freedom of all slaves in the Lone Star State. His General Order Number 3 begins: “The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free.” (The entire text can be found here.)

But, as Henry Louis Gates notes:

When Texas fell and Granger dispatched his now famous order No. 3, it wasn’t exactly instant magic for most of the Lone Star State’s 250,000 slaves. On plantations, masters had to decide when and how to announce the news—or wait for a government agent to arrive—and it was not uncommon for them to delay until after the harvest. Even in Galveston city, the ex-Confederate mayor flouted the Army by forcing the freed people back to work.

Today is Juneteenth, the anniversary of the end of slavery. Although the Emancipation Proclamation was issued in 1862, slavery effectively continued until the end of the Civil War in 1865. To commemorate we wanted to highlight a group portrait of the first African American senator and representatives, which currently on display in our exhibition, From Negro Pasts to Afro-Futures: Black Creative Re-Imaginings.

Currier & Ives, The First Colored Senator and Representatives (New York, 1872). Lithograph.

Josiah Henson was born #OTD in 1789, enslaved in Charles County, Maryland. He escaped to Canada after an unsuccessful attempt to purchase his freedom. There, he assisted fellow escapees via the Underground Railroad and later helped establish Dawn Settlement, a prosperous Black community. 

Happy Juneteenth! I wanted to collaborate with some talented animators & designers to create this gif to celebrate the holiday. You can watch the full version with audio here. 

Today we honor Juneteenth, which refers to June 19, 1865, when Union general Gordon Granger read out federal orders declaring that all people previously enslaved in Texas were free. Although the Emancipation Proclamation had formally freed people who were enslaved two and a half years earlier, these orders extended the Proclamation to more than 250,000 people in Texas, the most remote of the former Confederate states. While legally binding, these orders did not enable the freedom of people who were previously enslaved, and those who acted on the news risked violence and terror to actualize their rights. Through grassroots efforts, Black people in Texas reclaimed June 19 as “Juneteenth” a year later, in 1866, and it continues today as a celebration of Black liberation across the country.⁠

To learn more, see Henry Louis Gates, Jr., “What Is Juneteenth?”

she died bcause they sprayed so much tear gas in her face that she inhaled too much and DIED. HER DEATH WAS NOT CAUSED BY ASTHMA RELATED SYMPTOMS. Only tear gas. Solely tear gas.

They murdered her.