Taking time to learn about Juneteenth

By Mariah Madison

Although June 19th is recognized as a holiday in all states except four, a lot of people don’t know what Juneteenth is. 

Juneteenth is one of America’s oldest holidays and is observed each year on June 19 to mark the official end of slavery in the US. As an African American, I would have to say that I didn’t know this myself until about two years ago. So, if you didn’t know this don’t feel any shame because it is not taught in the public school system, at least not in Chicago Public Schools where I was born and raised. 

In 1863 Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, which was supposed to free all slaves, but the executive order had little impact in the South due to the minimal number of Union troops to enforce it.

It wasn’t until June 19, 1865, that the Union soldiers landed at Galveston, Texas with news that the war had ended and that the enslaved were now free. That is two years after they were supposed to be free.

Juneteenth is celebrated very similarly to how people celebrate Independence Day. You can expect a barbecue with some ribs, hamburgers, chicken, and hotdogs on the grill. Some people set off fireworks, and it is often used as a time for family and friends to gather together.

All my life I have celebrated Independence Day, and while it is a significant day, it is not that day that my people were liberated.

In many ways, Juneteenth represents how freedom and justice in the US have always been delayed for Black people. There is controversy about whether we can call it freedom and some people have been using the term free-ish to describe our current status in the US. 

After slavery, we would see a wave of lynching, imprisonment, and Jim Crow laws take its place. That has lead to a disproportionate impact of mass incarceration, discriminatory housing policies, and a lack of economic wealth building and ownership opportunities.

And now as the nation has come together or the Black Lives Matter Movement to protest against police violence and systemic racism, it is clear that while progress has been made since June 19, 1865, there are still barriers that impede progress. 

Tonight, I will gather with friends and family to celebrate our progress as we continue to fight for equality. This year I will be celebrating Juneteenth at the Peace Walk and Celebration happening in Champaign. There will be a peace walk starting at Western Bowl ending at Beardsley park stopping several times for 8 mins and 46 seconds to pay homage to George Floyd. There will be black business vendors showcasing their services, spoken word performances, children’s activities, and the singing of The Black National Anthem.

Black National Anthem
Lift ev’ry voice and sing
‘Til earth and heaven ring
Ring with the harmonies of Liberty
Let our rejoicing rise
High as the list’ning skies
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea
Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun
Let us march on ’til victory is won
Stony the road we trod
Bitter the chastening rod
Felt in the days when hope unborn had died
Yet with a steady beat
Have not our weary feet
Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?
We have come over a way that with tears has been watered
We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered
Out from the gloomy past
‘Til now we stand at last
Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast
God of our weary years
God of our silent tears
Thou who has brought us thus far on the way
Thou who has by Thy might
Led us into the light
Keep us forever in the path, we pray
Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee
Lest, our hearts drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee
Shadowed beneath Thy hand
May we forever stand
True to our God
True to our native land