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JUNETEENTH
by Archie
P. McDonald, PhD |
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While
visiting in Toronto, Ontario, last June, I was startled to see coverage
of a "Juneteenth" celebration going on in that Canadian provincial
capital. The television reporter interviewed several celebrants about
the meaning of the day, and mostly learned that it was a "fun" day
from the young and was connected to "our freedom" from the more mature.
Obviously, both answers were correct. Still, I was surprised, since
Canada never allowed slavery. Just as obviously, "Juneteenth," though
it originally was only the day of proclamation of freedom for Texas
slaves, has become a focus of freedom for African Americans everywhere.
Let us go back to the source.
Americans fought a terrible war, 1861-1865, to determine if the Union
would be preserved and slaves freed. President Abraham Lincoln was
careful to emphasize only the preservation of the Union as the first
commitment of his administration, but in September 1862, he widened
the war by embracing the ending of slavery as its second great commitment.
Lincoln did so by signing the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation
September 22. It said that the slaves of all who remained in "rebellion"
after January 1, 1863, would be considered free.
Lincoln was aware that his words immediately freed no one. Slaves
within Union lines would not be affected since their owners could
no longer rebel, and those outside Union Army lines had a great many
Confederate soldiers still trying to establish the Confederacy to
protect them. The importance of the Proclamation, then, was that it
fixed abolition as an official goal of the war. Slavery was actually
achieved only with the elimination of involuntary servitude by the
Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution in 1865.
"Juneteenth," then, marks the day that General Gordon Granger arrived
in Galveston
in 1865. Granger announced the end of the war and the end of slavery
in the territory of his new command: TEXAS; few noticed the difference,
either because former owners failed to relay the news because of guile
or their own ignorance of it. But the word spread, and in time Juneteenth
became a happy day for freedmen and women. Some of them eventually
moved to Shreveport or Denver learned of Juneteenth celebrations western
states, carrying their cultural institutions with them.
There was a time, especially during the waning days of official segregation,
when Juneteenth observances were muted, if observed at all. Now, it
seems, the celebrating is back and spreading. Good. Juneteenth is
a day of freedom for all, black and white.
All
Things Historical
June 15-21, 2003 column
A syndicated column in over 40 East Texas newspapers
This column is provided as a public service by the East Texas Historical
Association. Archie P. McDonald is director of the Association and
author of more than 20 books on Texas.
More on
Texas Black History
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