Comments on: Thoughts on Juneteenth

By: Tatiana McAllister

Tatiana McAllister — Sun, 10 Oct 2010 13:36:35 +0000

Juneteenth should be celebrated, but the fact of the matter is that it only represents the freedom of African American’s in the state of Texas. As an overall race we weren’t all free until December eightteenth of 1865, so why can’t this be our recognized National Holiday. We need our exact date because it’s a fact and it resembles us as a whole instead of state division. It may be too close to Christmas for most people, but I want to stand for that represents everyone not just some of us.

By: Venita Benitez

Venita Benitez — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 15:44:49 +0000

Like I said… I feel your pain. Together, see Juneteenth become a National Holiday in America (and then what?). I’m not searching for more Holiday’s in America! I am teaching, sharing that slavery still exist in our world. Over 246 million slaves in our world today. We lost many Africans to the sea and to soil. I’m more upset about what’s going on today. America is teaching me about modern day slavery which is going on today, greater than 400 years ago.

By: Rev. Ronald V. Myers, Sr., M.D.

Rev. Ronald V. Myers, Sr., M.D. — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 02:41:50 +0000

Juneteenth is officially recognized as “Juneteenth Independence Day” by the congress of the United States.

In 1997, during the 105th Congress, a historic joint Juneteenth resolution was passed by the Congress of the United States through Senate Joint Resolution 11, introduced by Senator Trent Lott (R-MS), and House Joint Resolution 56, introduced by Congressman J. C. Watts, Jr. (R-OK), recognizing the “19th of June” as “Juneteenth Independence Day” in America.

Americans of African descent were trapped in the tyranny of enslavement on the country’s first “4th of July”, 1776, Independence Day.

We honor our ancestors, Americans of African descent, who heard the news of freedom and celebrated with great joy and jubilation, on the “19th of June”, Juneteenth, 1865.

It took over 88 years for the news of freedom to be announced in Southwest Texas, over two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation was issued by President Lincoln.

Even though the Emancipation Proclamation went into effect on January 1, 1863 and slavery was not officially ended until the ratification of the 13th Amendment on December 18, 1865, we have chosen to join our ancestors on the “19th of June”, 1865, as the day we celebrate the end of slavery.

The National Juneteenth Holiday Campaign has worked diligently for several years to establish legislation in 29 states to recognize Juneteenth as a state holiday or state holiday observance, the District of Columbia, as well as the Congress of the United States. This has been a great accomplishment for the “Modern Juneteenth Movement” in America, reaching far beyond the establishment of Juneteenth as a state holiday in the place were it all began, in Texas, first celebrated in 1980.

Together we will see Juneteenth become a National Holiday in America!

“DOC”
Rev. Ronald V. Myers, Sr., M.D.
Chairman
National Juneteenth Holiday Campaign
National Juneteenth Observance Foundation (NJOF)
National Juneteenth Christian Leadership Council (NJCLC)
http://www.Juneteenth.us
http://www.19thofJune.com
http://www.njclc.com
http://www.JuneteenthJazz.com

By: Venita Benitez

Venita Benitez — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 00:42:44 +0000

If I had to pick between January 1st and Juneteenth. I pick Juanuary 1st. January 1st because President Abraham Loncoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation and also because of the 1808 abolition of the Transatlantic Slave Trade Act established to go in effect on January 1, 1808. So we have two for one already an established day off for most people. Although I still celebrate Juneteenth with the people of Texas because they celebrate it and I live here and have felt thier pain. But I don’t believe it is the 2nd Independence Day for celebration. If anything, the July 4th Independence Day in Texas should be very difficult to celebrate considering it was on July 4, that Texas signed and joined the Confederate States. Sincerely, ME IN TEXAS but CONNECTICUT.

By: Clifton P. Lewis

Clifton P. Lewis — Sat, 31 May 2008 00:15:07 +0000

May I point out that the United States did not gain its independence on July 4, 1776, it took a revolutionary war and much bloodshed before this great nation gained its independence. Likewise, freedom from slavery involved a long tortuous process that was officially begun on January 1, 1863 when President Abraham Loncoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. That document did not do everything that we think it should have done, but it is clear that it accomplished a great deal after it was issued in 1863: 1) it expanded the objective of the war beyond just saving the Union to include the ending of slavery; 2) it literally shook the foundation of the Confederacy by loosening its main underpinning which was slavery; 3)it authorized the enlistment of Black soldiers; and 4) it freed enough men to enable over two hundred thousand to join the Union Army and Navy.

A slaverholder in the state of Maryland declared that the announcement of the Emancipation Proclamation “struck the nation like a thunderbolt from a cloudless sky.” The esteemed Mr. Frederick Douglass suggested that January first should be remembered “as if it was a thousand years.”

Yes, there are many significant freedom dates that should be remembered, and the significance of each one should be taught. However, I cast my vote for the date the official process began – January 1, 1863!

As a Black preacher said “may God forget my people when they forget this day.”

Clifton P. Lewis
Director, L. B. Brown House Museum
Bartow, Florida (www.lbbrown.com)

By: Rev. Ronald Myers

Rev. Ronald Myers — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 03:36:58 +0000

Juneteenth is America’s 2nd Independence Day celebration. 26 states recognize Juneteenth as a state holiday or state holiday observance, as well as the Congress of the United States.

Together we will see Juneteenth become a national holiday in Amemrica!

By: Judge Jim Wynn

Judge Jim Wynn — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 16:05:03 +0000

I agree totally with your conclusion that “it seems perfectly consistent with America’s national ethos that we should have a national observance celebrating the end of slavery”. You point out correctly that Truman set 1 February as the date because that was when the 13th Amendment was launched. But slavery did not end officially in America until the ratification of the 13th Amendment which occurred when the necessary two-thirds of the state votes was obtained with the ratification by Georgia on 6 December 1865.

So, there we have it, we could take Truman’s date since it was the date the Amendment was launched, or celebrate the “real” date which is when the 13th Amendment actually became law in the United States, 6 December. I vote for the latter though I well recognize the the value of celebrating an existing congressionally authorized date is an easier route.

In any event, it surely wasn’t “Juneteenth” which was no more than a day in which the African Americans were made aware of a freedom that had already achieved by the limited reach of the Emancipation Proclamation.

Jim Wynn
Jim.Wynn@yahoo.com