Black leaders across the country are reflecting on the legacy of Juneteenth and the need for the holiday nearly 160 years after the last enslaved Americans were freed.
“Juneteenth is a time to come together to celebrate the freedom, liberation and resilience that have defined the history of Black Americans since they arrived on this earth in 1619,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said in a statement Wednesday.
President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, but news of emancipation didn’t reach Galveston, Texas until June 19, 1865. When Union soldiers arrived to enforce the order, that day became known as Emancipation Day, Freedom Day, and more commonly, Juneteenth.
“From that day onwards, Black Americans gained the right to vote, equal protection under the law and the ability to hold public office at the local, state and federal levels,” Jeffries said. “Unfortunately, the joy was short-lived and a violent backlash ensued, ushering in nearly a century of Jim Crow segregation.”
The city of Galveston has celebrated Juneteenth since 1866, but the movement to make the day a federal holiday dates back more than 100 years. Activists such as “Grandmother Juneteenth” Opal Lee and Texas Congressman Albert Ely Edwards, known as “Mr. Juneteenth,” lobbied the federal government to recognize the holiday.
In June 2021, following a summer in which racial justice issues were rekindled in the wake of the murder of George Floyd, President Biden officially designated Juneteenth a federal holiday, the first time such a date has been named a federal holiday since Martin Luther King Jr. Day was established in 1983.
Sen. Cory Booker (NJ, DN) told The Hill he was “really proud” to co-sponsor the bill to make Juneteenth a federal holiday.
“This was a day that all Americans should rejoice and recognize as a day of freedom and one of our most sacred values and so much more. So this is a day that really marks the end of a long, long struggle in America that, frankly, involved so much sacrifice and death and effort,” Booker said. “So it’s a time to remember the hard road that we’ve traveled, the victories that we’ve achieved, and also a time to rededicate ourselves to the work that still needs to be done.”
Many Black leaders said they were using Wednesday to reflect on the progress that still needs to be made, especially with the presidential election looming.
“I think we need to take this as an opportunity to not only recognize the fact that black people were free in this country, but also the suffering that still exists,” said Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas).
“Right now, there are those who are trying to roll back the progress that has been made because so many people were willing to give their final days and their lives,” she continued. “And the last thing we want to do is go back to glorifying something like slavery, as they tried to do in Texas, as they tried to do in Florida and other states. Instead, we have to be clear about the brutality of slavery.”
Democratic National Committee Chairman Jaime Harrison went so far as to condemn former President Trump in a statement on Wednesday.
“As we celebrate Juneteenth and reflect on the resilience of Black Americans, we must recognize that the struggle for Black liberation is not limited to a particular moment in time, but is an ongoing, long-term movement for civil rights. We must be the civil rights leaders of our generation and continue the journey toward freedom and equality that began long before us,” Harrison said.
Harrison said Biden has appointed more black judges to the federal bench in a single term than any other president, including Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first black woman to serve on the Supreme Court.
“Donald Trump calls white supremacists ‘my people’ and attacks DEI efforts across the country,” Harrison said. “His policies are not geared towards Black communities, and despite what he says, he doesn’t care about us.”
Meanwhile, the Congressional Black Caucus is using the entire week of Juneteenth as a week of action in hopes of mobilizing black voters ahead of November.
“We believe it’s a time to not only honor the holiday of Juneteenth, but what it means and what it stands for, and the fact that every generation must continue to fight to protect our freedoms,” Rep. Steven Horsford (D-Nevada), chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, told The Hill.Switch Up.
Black leaders, including at the CBC, have raised the alarm about what they see as a rollback of civil rights for Black Americans, pointing to a recent U.S. Federal Appeals Court ruling that barred Black-owned venture capital firm Fearless Fund from making grants exclusively to Black women entrepreneurs, restrictions on African-American studies programs, and limitations on diversity, equity, and inclusion policies.
“Throughout our journey in America, we have always found a way to move forward in the face of opposition,” Jeffries said. “House Democrats will continue to fight for justice to make America the best it can be and ensure liberty, equality, and justice for all Americans without delay.”
Tiah Shepherd contributed to this article.
