Juneteenth
If public schools in the United States really want to shock me and the rest of the planet with its black history awareness and its totality of perspective, each of them should carve out assembly time for today, June 19th. Today is a day of celebration and rejoicing — Juneteenth demands it.
The holiday’s history has to do with hardworking people celebrating great news after times of strife and tribulation. In 1865, two years after black men, women, and children were freed from slavery through the Emancipation Proclamation, Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas on this day to let the people know that the re-United States had ended slavery in the nation. Needless to say, until this point these black Texans were still working and carrying on with their lives.
When the news arrived and it sank in, families gathered, barbecue was eaten, and red soda water was sipped in celebration of newfound freedom and opportunity for black people in America.
So why don’t people know more about this holiday? It has family! Freedom! War! Peace! Community! Food! Texas! Get on the ball, folks!
There are many people who have written about this holiday from personal and historical perspectives, aside from the two people I’ve linked already.
All I had heard about Juneteenth up to this point was how shameful it was that Texas waited so long to tell people they were not legally slaves anymore. Shameful as in it shows the humanity of the white Texans in power at that time to be in a highly degraded state.
I did not learn about this until well into adulthood, by the way. I think that it’s not taught to white students, at any rate, because it *is* such a shameful thing for white Americans, historically. Which, of course, is more of a deciding factor in white-dominated school systems than any celebratory aspect the day may hold for anyone else?
It’s new for me still, to think of it as a Happy – Juneteenth rather than a “Can You Effing Believe This Shit, as if Having Fought a War to Hang Onto Slavery Weren’t Horrible Enough?” – Juneteenth.
Although, I hope the grudge-holding vibes coming off me yesterday did not bring down the mood for anyone around me who had the celebratory feeling about Juneteenth. I am not always this negative! Lately, though…oof.
Glad to see this post, either way.
Thanks for the plug ProblemChylde. I’ve only recently heard the red soda part of the history. Explain where that comes from.
I believe it was what they drank after they stopped working and gathered around to celebrate.