Today we celebrate Juneteenth and the ending of slavery in the United States. While this is only the second time it has been celebrated as a national holiday, the occasion has been memorialized throughout the country since that fateful day over 150 years ago.
But what is the history behind Juneteenth and the journey to liberty for all that it represents?
It was January 1st, 1863. Abraham Lincoln could not stop his hand from trembling. The source of his exhaustion was the White House New Year’s Day party earlier that day, during which he’d shaken hundreds of hands. Trembling or not, the document in front of him needed his signature.
Lincoln carefully dipped his steel pen into the inkwell and paused to say:
I never in my life felt more certain that I was doing right, than I do in signing this paper. But I have been receiving calls and shaking hands since nine o’clock this morning, till my arm is stiff and numb. Now this signature is one that will be closely examined, and if they find my hand trembled they will say “he had some compunctions.” But anyway, it is going to be done.
Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, a document that pronounced “that all persons held as slaves” within the rebellious states “are, and henceforward shall be free.” The war to preserve the Union became the war to end slavery.
However, emancipation rested on uncertainty: the Union still needed to win the war. Making matters worse, news of the proclamation did not reach all enslaved people at the same time, with some African Americans first hearing about emancipation months after the war ended in April 1865.
Union troops under the command of Major General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas on June 19th, 1865, the final place to be notified. Granger and his men went street-to-street proclaiming, “The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a Proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free.”
Emancipation left an indelible mark on those who were still held in bondage, as interviews conducted decades later by the Federal Writers’ Project show. Between 1936 and 1938, interviewers spoke with 2,300 former slaves, including hundreds of African Americans who lived in Texas.
Alto resident Preely Coleman, who was freed in 1865, spent Juneteenth 1937 generously sharing his first experience of freedom. The 85-year-old remembered his owner telling him and the other enslaved men working in the field that “you all are free as I am.” The men began “shouting and singing” in celebration.
Similarly, 93-year-old Sarah Ashley of Goodrich described her first Juneteenth as a “burst of freedom.” Franklin resident Josh Miles, 78, shared fond memories of how Juneteenth in Texas always attracted African Americans from the “old [slave] states” to barbeque and celebrate their freedom together.
Although many African Americans certainly rejoiced that first Juneteenth, just as many experienced the uncertainty of what that freedom meant.
“Reverend Bill” Green of San Antonio, 87, also heard about the proclamation in June 1865, but he wasn’t freed, and his owner attempted to keep him as a slave until he was 21. Only the actions of a local judge saved Green from continued bondage.
Beaumont resident Daphne Williams, who was well over 100-years-old when she was interviewed, thought she was being “fooled” about the news of her emancipation. Her uncle confirmed their freedom and told Daphne and her family to “look out for number one.”
Margrett Nillin, 90, of Fort Worth and Susan Merritt, 87, of Rusk County echoed the uncertainty of freedom in their interviews. Both lamented how freedom brought about an explosion of violence against African Americans, many of whom were shot, tortured, or lynched at the hands of former owners and the Ku Klux Klan.
In light of these awful attacks, the interviewer asked Nillin what she liked “best”: being free or being enslaved? Nillin replied that despite the uncertainty of freedom, under slavery she owned nothing and would “never” own anything. She could neither marry nor buy a home or raise a family. Emancipation gave Nillin the freedom to own property, to marry and raise a family, to travel and work for wages, and to worship and become educated.
The road leading to emancipation was as uncertain as the road following emancipation. As the oldest nationally celebrated holiday honoring emancipation in the United States, Juneteenth embodies our nation’s long, often arduous journey to realize our founding principles of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Our nation's classrooms ought to be spaces in which students can come to appreciate the merits of these principles and learn how to preserve “a more perfect Union” for all Americans.
Elliott Drago is the Online Education Officer at the Jack Miller Center.