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<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>Juneteenth is the first new federal holiday since Martin Luther King Jr Day was established in 1983.<\/p>\n
What happened on Juneteenth?<\/h2>\n
On 19 June 1865, around 2,000 Union troops arrived in Galveston Bay, Texas, to inform enslaved African-Americans of their freedom and to tell them the Civil War<\/a> had ended. Led by Major General Gordon Granger, who had fought for the Union, the troops took control of the state and announced that the 250,000 enslaved black people in the state were free by executive decree.<\/p>\n Upon his arrival, Granger read out General Order No 3, informing the residents that slavery would no longer be tolerated and that all enslaved people were now free. Enslaved people would henceforth be treated as hired workers if they chose to remain on the plantations, according to the National Museum of African American History and Culture.<\/p>\n But not all enslaved people were immediately freed \u2013 or even soon after. \u201cIt was not uncommon for slave owners, unwilling to give up free labour, to refuse to release their slaves until forced to, in person, by a representative of the government,\u201d writes Sharon Pruitt-Young<\/a>, referencing the work of the historian Henry Louis Gates Jr.<\/p>\n Even after Granger\u2019s announcement, many white people in Texas continued to enslave people who had not heard the news, the Pulitzer Prize\u2013winning historian Annette Gordon-Reed explains<\/a>. \u201cThose who had<\/em> heard were often forcibly prevented from acting as if any material change had taken place. Freedom had come in legal terms, but the story was not so clear on the ground as it was on paper. Former enslavers unleashed violence upon the people whom they had claimed as property, and others threatened to do so in order to make people work. Amid joy and hope was great malevolence and power.\u201d<\/p>\n And some of the behaviour of Lincoln\u2019s Union troops towards the former slaves who had escaped or been freed by their owners \u201cwas horribly compromised\u201d, writes Lucy Worsley in this article for BBC History Magazine<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n In one shameful incident, Union troops left a group of formerly enslaved African-Americans for dead at Ebenezer Creek near Savannah. Brigadier General Jefferson C Davis viewed them as an encumbrance of \u201cuseless negroes\u201d, slowing him down and increasing risk.<\/p>\n Worsley explains: \u201cDavis\u2019s army used pontoon bridges to cross a swamp of deep-running black waters at Ebenezer Creek. But in an act that stains the memory and motives of the Union side, he left his unwelcome recruits behind and in danger of falling into Confederate hands. One of Davis\u2019s colleagues believed that this must result in \u2018all these negroes being recaptured or perhaps brutally shot\u2019. In the event, many of them died trying to cross the swamp on their own makeshift rafts, or even by swimming through its waters.\u201d<\/p>\n The end of slavery did not mean equality for black Americans, either. \u201cThe ending of slavery in a formal sense turned into less official forms of abuse of African-Americans,\u201d says Worsley. \u201cRacial segregation became a fact of life in many formerly Confederate states, as did using the formerly enslaved as poorly paid labour. Indeed, \u2018slavery\u2019 was still possible \u2013 in all but name.\u201d<\/p>\n A collection of statutes known as the Jim Crow laws<\/a> forced black people to live, work, and play separately. The laws existed for about 100 years, from the post-Civil War era until the 1950s.<\/p>\n Texas, which had a smaller percentage of black people than other southern states like Mississippi or Alabama, \u201cwas a very hard place\u201d, says historian Annette Gordon-Reed. Between 1882 and 1968, it had the third-highest number of lynchings in the United States.<\/p>\n The \u2018Emancipation Proclamation\u2019 issued by President Abraham Lincoln on 1 January 1863 established that all enslaved people in Confederate states in rebellion against the Union \u201cshall be then, thenceforward, and forever free\u201d.<\/p>\n But the Proclamation could not be implemented in places still under Confederate control. As a result, in the westernmost Confederate state of Texas, where there was no large Union Army presence, slavery continued years after the Emancipation Proclamation.<\/p>\n The Emancipation Proclamation did not promise freedom to all enslaved people. And \u201ca number of slave-owning states remained loyal to the Union. Some of those with vulnerable, valuable positions on the border of the Confederacy were allowed to maintain slavery in order to keep them on Lincoln and the Union\u2019s side,\u201d writes Lucy Worsley<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p><\/div> <\/section> After they were freed, some former enslaved people and their descendants would travel to Galveston annually in honour of Juneteenth, writes Sharon Pruitt-Young. \u201cBut it wasn\u2019t uncommon for white people to bar black people from celebrating in public spaces, forcing [them] to get creative.\u201d In one such case, community members in Houston, Texas \u2013 who were all formerly enslaved people \u2013 raised $1,000 to purchase land in 1872 that would be devoted specifically to Juneteenth celebrations. It was named Emancipation Park. In the years that followed, Emancipation parks sprung up all over the US. Emancipation Park is today one of Houston\u2019s oldest parks.<\/p>\n Today, Juneteenth is celebrated in a variety of different ways, including parades, carnivals, picnics, and street fairs. Food is a central part of the celebrations \u2013 many enjoy meals of red food and drink, which are meant to symbolise sacrifice, resilience, and transformation. Historians note that enslaved people \u201cwere often fed foods that were muted in colour and poor in quality, so red foods were prized for being a very special treat<\/a>\u201d. Today, red velvet cake, watermelon, and red soda water are particularly popular.<\/p>\n Pulitzer Prize\u2013winning historian Annette Gordon-Reed, author of On Juneteenth<\/em>, says that when she was younger and living in Texas, celebrating Juneteenth \u201cwas like celebrating the Fourth of July, but for Black people\u201d.<\/p>\n Reacting last year to the news that Juneteenth had been made a federal holiday, Gordon-Reed said: \u201cMaking it a national holiday, something that everybody celebrates, not just Texans, is a way of bringing the story of enslaved people into closer focus. And, I should say, also the aftermath of slavery and the struggle that African-Americans have still been on from those days until today.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile Mary Elliott, curator of American Slavery at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, says: \u201cJuneteenth is for everyone to pause and really think about the meaning and manifestation of freedom<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n Looking to the future of Juneteenth celebrations, Annette Gordon-Reed says: \u201cI would like to see it evolve<\/a>. I would like to see it continue to be a day, not just for celebration, but a time for thinking about the serious issues that were involved here with the institution of slavery and the problem of racial discrimination.\u201d<\/p>\n Gordon-Reed urged people to reflect during the weeks between Juneteenth and 4 July (Independence Day) on the fact that \u201cnot everyone got their freedom in 1776. A lot of us were left out of the original draft of the Constitution\u201d.<\/p>\n University of San Diego historians Professor Channon Miller and Professor TJ Tallie say that 19 June 1865 \u201cmarked a moment from whence Black Texans could stake their claim as free people, simultaneously proclaiming their humanity and importance while also rejecting the idea of being the recipients of political largesse.\u201d<\/p>\n But in this article<\/a> published in Perspectives on History<\/em> magazine, the professors also say the formal recognition of Juneteenth as a federal holiday is \u201ctroubling\u201d. They write: \u201cJuneteenth is a sacred and special holiday for Black Americans with a specific cultural history and intent. It is a form of freedom-making and freedom-marking that has unique meaning for us that cannot be generalized into a wider celebration of freedom for all people in the United States any more than Diwali or Hanukkah can be generalized into universal appreciations of light in the darkness that can be claimed by anyone.<\/p>\n \u201cOne of the legacies of enslavement has been the idea that Black people \u2013 their bodies, their culture, their work, their livelihoods \u2013 are not theirs alone, but communal property<\/em>.<\/p>\n \u201cThis act [the federal holiday proclamation] points to the country\u2019s enduring use of Black people\u2019s visions and articulations of freedom for its own symbolic displays of democracy and exceptionalism. Such a move is performative. Rather than partnering in the ongoing struggle for Black freedom, this bill fails to improve the material, day-to-day lives of Black Americans\u2026 The federal government\u2019s commemoration of Juneteenth is a hollow one as long as it refuses to allow the freedom trumpet to sound.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Mark Anthony Neal, an author and distinguished professor of African and African-American Studies at Duke University, urges people to remember<\/a> that Juneteenth \u201cis an example of a Black American tradition that existed well before it was \u2018legitimized\u2019 by white American society\u201d.<\/p>\n The original Juneteenth flag was created in 1997 by the National Juneteenth Celebration Foundation (NJCF) founder, Ben Haith.<\/p>\n While many in the African-American community choose to incorporate the colours red, black, and green in their celebrations of Juneteenth, the colours of the Juneteenth flag are red, white, and blue \u201cto signify the belonging of Black Americans in the fabric of the US\u201d, writes Professor Mark Anthony Neal.<\/p>\n The flag is emblazoned with a star surrounded by a burst. The star is a nod to Texas, known as \u2018The Lone Star State\u2019, while the burst is thought to represent new opportunities that lie ahead for black people. The date \u201cJune 19, 1865\u201d was added to the flag in 2004.<\/p>\n Lincoln and slavery: \u201cIf I could save the union without freeing any slave, I would\u201d<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n To generations of Americans, Abraham Lincoln is the Great Emancipator, the man who ended slavery. But, argues historian Lucy Worsley, scratch beneath the surface and you\u2019ll find that the president\u2019s motives weren\u2019t as unblemished as many people believe<\/p>\n 8 podcasts about slavery and the slave trade to listen to right now<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n BBC History Revealed<\/em> editor Charlotte Hodgman rounds up eight HistoryExtra<\/em> podcasts about the slave trade \u2013 from the Haitian slave rebellion to the history of slavery within the British empire\u2026<\/p>\n Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad: how one woman saved hundreds from hell<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n The Underground Railroad saved thousands from the hell of slavery, but one name will always stand out as the symbol of courage, selflessness, and freedom, writes journalist Jonny Wilkes<\/p>\n The story of the American Civil War: 32 key moments in the landmark conflict<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n With the Declaration of Independence in 1776, 13 former British colonies became the United States of America, but by the 1830s it was clear the new nation was divided. Adam IP Smith explains how the issue of slavery, above all, created discord between north and south, and forced political tension to rise<\/p>\n Freedom fighters: the enslaved people who fought for the abolition of slavery<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Victory in the fight against slavery has been mostly credited to white abolitionists \u2013 with the struggles of enslaved people to gain their own freedom largely overlooked, says James Walvin<\/p>\n The American Civil War: 7 facts and fictions<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n The American Civil War \u2013 fought between the United States and 11 southern states that had formed the \u2018Confederate States of America\u2019 \u2013 began in 1861 and ended in 1865. It was America\u2019s bloodiest clash, claiming more than 620,000 lives. Yet, argues novelist David Sanger, the four-year war is often romanticised \u2013 particularly the idea of a \u2018plucky\u2019 South against the bold and morally-driven North. Here, Sanger explores seven facts and fictions surrounding the conflict<\/p>\n Escaping slavery in the American South<\/strong><\/a> (podcast)<\/strong><\/p>\n How can we reconstruct the experiences of enslaved people? In this podcast episode, historian Shaun Wallace speaks to HistoryExtra<\/em> podcast editor, Ellie Cawthorne, about his work on the Fugitive Slave Database, which uses newspaper adverts for fugitive enslaved people from the American South to reconstruct the stories of those who escaped from slavery<\/p>\n Do we need to decolonise history? And if so, how?<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n In 2019, the Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle, expressed shock at figures showing the underrepresentation of ethnicity in professor positions in universities and encouraged scholars to \u201copen up the conversation\u201d about the curriculum. But what is decolonising history all about? How do we go about doing it \u2013 and do we actually need to? We asked 10 experts for their views<\/p>\n![\"""\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/7\/2022\/06\/Major-General-Gordon-Granger-1665541.jpg?quality=90&resize=360%2C413"\" "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>![\"""\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/7\/2022\/06\/GettyImages-515058721-25c1ec1.jpg?quality=90&resize=603%2C413"\" "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>Lincoln\u2019s Emancipation Proclamation<\/h3>\n
How is Juneteenth celebrated?<\/h2>\n
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<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>Why is Juneteenth important?<\/h2>\n
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<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>A Juneteenth dilemma<\/h3>\n
What is the Juneteenth flag?<\/h2>\n
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<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>The American Civil War and the end of slavery: 9 articles to read right now<\/h2>\n