Patents on the soles of your shoes...: Juneteenth

Showing posts with label Juneteenth. Show all posts

Thursday, June 19, 2025

Juneteenth 2025!

Juneteenth, a portmanteau term for “June Nineteenth”, celebrates Black emancipation from slavery. Specifically, Juneteenth celebrates June 19th, 1865, when military General Orders #3 were given by Major-General Granger to proclaim the emancipation of slaves in Galveston, Texas, one of the last outposts of slavery. Orders given to implement Abraham Lincoln’s Proclamation of Emancipation, dated January 1st, 1863. Orders, in fact given just a few months prior to ratification of the 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution, on December 6th, 1865, formally abolishing slavery across the US.

However, the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act was only signed into law on June 17th, 2021, by then-President Joe Biden. At the end of the day, recognition of Juneteenth as a National federal holiday, marking Black Independence Day, rights a wrong. A wrong, because on Independence Day, July 4th, 1776, the United States declared independence from Great Britain, while Black Americans remained in bondage.

References
Juneteenth
https://juneteenth.com/

Lincoln, A. (Jan. 1, 1863). Proclamation of Emancipation. Transcript in PDF format. Library of Congress.
https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/mss/mal/172/1723200/1723200.pdf

Thirteenth Amendment to the US Constitution - Abolition of Slavery [Transcript] https://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/amendment/amendment-xiii

US Congress - Juneteenth National Independence Day Act, S. 475
https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/senate-bill/475

Galveston History Staff (June 15, 2024). Juneteenth and General Orders #3.
https://tinyurl.com/yvp8xbvw

Monday, June 19, 2023

Juneteenth 2023

Juneteenth, short for June 19th, variously called the other Independence Day, Freedom Day, Emancipation Day, or Liberation Day, is also a Federal Holiday. A Federal Holiday, since June 17th 2021, when President Biden signed into law the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act that commemorates the end of slavery in the United States. To be precise, June 19th refers back to 1865, when the first military orders were given to proclaim the emancipation of slaves in Galveston, Texas. Orders given to implement Abraham Lincoln’s Proclamation of Emancipation, dated January 1st 1863, just a few months prior to ratification of the 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution, on December 6th 1865, formally abolishing slavery across the US.

In 2023, in light of the Black Lives Matter movement, Juneteenth is not only a celebration of the past, but also an opportunity to re-commit to a more just and equitable society for all. As President Biden proclaimed on June 16th 2023:

NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States […] call upon the people of the United States to acknowledge and condemn the history of slavery in our Nation and recognize how the impact of America’s original sin remains. I call on every American to celebrate Juneteenth and recommit to working together to eradicate systemic racism and inequity in our society wherever they find it. [Biden, 06-16- 2023]

Happy Juneteenth 2023!

References
Black Lives Matter

https://blacklivesmatter.com/

Library of Congress – Juneteenth - General Order #3 delivered by Major General Gordon Granger.
https://tinyurl.com/557fsz5b

Library of Congress – The Emancipation Proclamation.

https://tinyurl.com/4pwf8555

Juneteenth National Independence Day Act
https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/senate-bill/475

13th Amendment – Abolition of Slavery.
https://tinyurl.com/mr2b236x

Biden (June 16, 2023). Proclamation on Juneteenth Day of Observance 2023.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2023/06/16/a-proclamation-on-juneteenth-day-of-observance-2023/

Sunday, June 19, 2022

Juneteenth 2022

Juneteenth is the day to commemorate the emancipation of enslaved Black Americans, and to celebrate Black American culture. Juneteenth, short for “June nineteenth", has been celebrated since June 19, 1865, when Federal Troops marched into Galveston, Texas, to free slaves—two and half years after Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, effective on January 1, 1863. Juneteenth is thus the oldest Black American celebration. (Staff Gov. Info)

As a reminder, Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation stated:

On the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free; and the Executive Government of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom. (National Archives: Emacipation Proclamation)

On June 17, 2021, President Biden signed into law the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act, S. 475, completing the Congressional process designed to approve the first Juneteenth national holiday, since Martin Luther King Day passed in 1983. Upon ratification and celebration of the first Federal Juneteenth, in 2021, President Biden proclaimed:

On Juneteenth, we recommit ourselves to the work of equity, equality, and justice. And, we celebrate the centuries of struggle, courage, and hope that have brought us to this time of progress and possibility. That work has been led throughout our history by abolitionists and educators, civil rights advocates and lawyers, courageous activists and trade unionists, public officials, and everyday Americans who have helped make real the ideals of our founding documents for all. (Biden, 2021)

Thus, 2022 marks the second year of Juneteenth celebrations across the United States. In 2022 also, since Juneteenth falls on a Sunday, the Federal Holiday is celebrated on June 20, 2022. At the end of the day, the Federal Juneteenth holiday rights a wrong, recognizing Black American history, finally making it possible for Black Americans to celebrate Independence Day, since on July 4, 1776, Black American ancestors were enslaved, regardless of separation from Great Britain.

References

Biden, J. (June 18, 2021). A Proclamation on Juneteenth Day of Observance, 2021.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/06/18/a-proclamation-on-juneteenth-day-of-observance-2021/

Emancipation Proclamation (National Archives)
https://www.archives.gov/exhibits/featured-documents/emancipation-proclamation#:~:text=President%20Abraham%20Lincoln%20issued%20the,and%20henceforward%20shall%20be%20free.%22

Juneteenth National Independence Day Act, S. 475

https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/senate-bill/475

Staff (June 17, 2021). Congress passes legislation to make Juneteenth a federal holiday.
https://www.govinfo.gov/features/juneteenth#:~:text=June%2019%2C%202021%20marks%20the,since%20Martin%20Luther%20King%20Jr

What is Juneteenth?
https://www.history.com/news/what-is-juneteenth

Saturday, June 19, 2021

Celebrating Juneteenth 2021!

A historic June Nineteenth 2021, since this is the first year that Juneteenth is recognized as a federal holiday in the United States. A day celebrated for more than 1.5 centuries in the Black-American community, variously as the other Independence Day, Freedom Day, Emancipation Day or Liberation Day, that the Biden administration just signed into law, on June 17, 2021.

Going forward everyone will have an opportunity to celebrate Juneteenth. Everyone will have an opportunity to find out about June 19th, 1865. The day, when two years after Abraham’s Lincoln’s (draft) Proclamation of Emancipation, on January 1, 1863, all the residents of such slave-owner-safe states as Texas, including those Black-Americans still enslaved, and their owners, were publicly informed that slavery had ended. Information provided in the form of military Orders, such as those issued by Major General Granger, in Galveston, Texas on June 19th, 1865, as follows (1):

Juneteenth 1865, just shy of December 6th, 1865, when the 13th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified, formally abolishing slavery across the United States. (National Constitution Center, Transcript 13th Amendment)

A time to celebrate, not only an important milestone in the long history of Black-American liberation, but most importantly, the promise of a better future that such a celebration holds. As President Biden put it, echoing former President Obama's notion of an imperfect Union:

To honor the true meaning of Juneteenth, we have to continue toward that promise because we’ve not gotten there yet. (Biden, June 17, 2021)

No longer the other Independence Day, by comparison to July 4th, celebrating Independence from Great Britain, Juneteenth has finally become recognized in its own right. A celebration of emancipation, perceived as the true Independence of the Black American community of the United States, living in complete bondage, subjugated by slave-owners, during the 18th and 19th century.

Happy Juneteenth everyone!

Notes

(1) Major-General Granger's Orders #3, cited in Staff, National Consitution Center, 2020

(2) Synthia Sant-James, renowned Black-American artist and author, designed the first Kwanzaa stamp for the United States Postal Service (USPS), first issued in 1997. Saint-James then also designed the Forever Kwanzaa USPS stamp, in 2016.

References

Biden, J. (June 17, 2021) Remarks by President Biden at signing of the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act. https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2021/06/17/remarks-by-president-biden-at-signing-of-the-juneteenth-national-independence-day-act/

Juneteenth: Our other independence Day https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/juneteenth-our-other-independence-day-16340952/

Lincoln, A. (Jan. 1, 1863) Proclamation of Emancipation. Transcript in PDF format. Library of Congress. https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/mss/mal/172/1723200/1723200.pdf

McKenzie, J-Ph. (June 17, 2021) What is Juneteenth? The historic day is finally a federal holiday. Here’s why we honor June 19^th. https://www.oprahdaily.com/life/a32893726/what-is-juneteenth/

Staff (June 18, 2020) Juneteenth: Understanding its origins. National Constitution Center (NCC) https://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/blog/juneteenth-understanding-its-origins

Synthia Saint-James http://synthiasaintjames.com/gallery.html

Thirteenth Amendment to the US Constitution - Abolition of Slavery [Transcript] https://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/amendment/amendment-xiii