Airdate: June 14th, 2023
Juneteenth or officially Juneteenth National Independence Day is being celebrated next Monday across the country. It celebrates the emancipation of African-Americans on June 19th, 1865 in Galveston, Texas — the last of the enslaved people to be freed.
This is the third year Juneteenth has been a designated federal holiday.
Many Juneteenth observations celebrate African-American culture.
But what about the history itself?
Dr. Kimeka Campbell and Ana White, Young Professionals of Color, Greater Harrisburg
Dr. Kimeka Campbell, Co-Founder of Young Professionals of Color–Greater Harrisburg was on The Spark Wednesday and explained how Juneteenth came about, “Juneteenth is the day that we celebrate the last slaves being freed in Galveston, Texas, and not just being freed, but they were freed two years before and the federal troops had to go to Galveston, Texas, to not deliver the news, but to actually fight the stronghold at Galveston that was keeping those slaves enslaved, those people enslaved.”
Even though the Emancipation Proclamation by President Abraham Lincoln had declared freedom for enslaved people in south, they weren’t actually free until the Civil War ended and the enslaved were informed they were free. The enslaved at Galveston weren’t aware they were free until a Union Army General ordered their freedom.
Ana White, co-chair of Young Professionals of Color Greater Harrisburg’s Juneteenth Coalition added on The Spark,”It’s not just kind of this cut and dry thing of freedom. Like, one day you’re enslaved, the next you’re not. The dismantling of that took so much time and pieces connecting to total freedom that I think people gloss over that part as well. This was a very kind of intentional piece by piece journey towards freedom, not some kind of absolute wake up. One day someone signed something and we’re all free and then others are notified and then we kind of just ran off and did another thing. It was a very intentional piece by piece journey into this large thing that we know is emancipation.”
White commented on the relevance of Juneteenth today.,”I think Juneteenth allows individuals to get another piece of history under their belt, understand the significance of freedom, but also challenges us and modern day to think of what does freedom look like? What have we defined, black and brown freedom to look like? Are we there yet?”
Juneteenth is celebrated today with discussions of the history, food, music and theater. There are Juneteenth events scheduled throughout Central Pennsylvania between now and Tuesday. WITF radio and TV have scheduled Juneteenth programming as well.
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