One hundred fifty-eight years ago, General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston Bay, Texas and officially declared freedom for the last remaining enslaved people in the United States (National Museum of African American History and Culture). Although the Emancipation Proclamation had been issued on January 1, 1863, effective enforcement had to wait two years for the end of the Civil War, which did not come until April 9, 1865. It took an additional two months for Union troops to travel the country informing Africans they were finally free.
"The people of Texas are informed that in accordance with a Proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired laborer."
Source: NMAAHC
In that moment, 246 years of kidnapping, torture, beatings, harsh labor, rape, dehumanization, pain, and sorrow were over. Africans were finally recognized as whole, autonomous human beings entitled to the potentials of America. Of course, the signing of a document and reading it aloud does not fix everything. The struggles persisted, and still persist to this day in some form, for these brand new Americans. It is the hope, the freedom, and independence that are celebrated on America's Second Independence Day.
I know some of you might get upset with the concept of Juneteenth and the label "America's Second Independence Day." Lord knows you pitched a fit over the Black national anthem, "Lift Every Voice and Sing," when it was performed at the 2022 Super Bowl.
America has a day dedicated to the ideals, promises, and dreams of freedom. Traditionally, the occasion is celebrated on July 4, marking the day the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776 instead of the end of the Revolutionary War, which occurred on September 3, 1783 (University of Rochester). If a country can have a day to celebrate its freedom from what was seen as tyranny and oppression, why shouldn't a group of human beings be entitled to the same?
Even the flags have similarities. We all know what the American flag looks like: a red, white, and blue rectangle consisting of thirteen stripes and fifty stars. The stripes represent the 13 original colonies, each star is a state, the "red symbolizes hardiness and valor, white symbolizes purity and innocence, and blue represents vigilance, perseverance and justice" (PBS). The Juneteenth flag is also red, white, and blue with a star. "The red, white and blue represents the American flag, a reminder that slaves and their descendants were and are Americans" (CNN). The white star symbolizes both Texas, the last state to know freedom, and the United States as one whole nation reconciled after four years of bitter war (CNN). The star burst represents the new beginning for African Americans (CNN). The arc is the horizon symbolizing "the opportunities and promise that lay ahead for Black Americans" (CNN).
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