As most of us scratch July 4th off of our future calendars, we set our sights on Juneteenth instead. Juneteenth is the real freedom act, but was it? Although slavery was technically abolished on June 19, 1865, a lot of the slaves were’t even notified of their freedom. One theory for this delay is that the messenger sent to deliver the news to the slaves got murdered. Another is that the slave owners wanted more free labor out of the slaves, so they just didn’t tell them.
However, as of Thursday morning, change.org petitioned to make Juneteenth a national holiday; obtaining more than 300 signatures. And then, Gov. Tony Evers announced Wednesday that the Juneteenth flag will be raised over the Wisconsin State Capitol; beginning at sunrise on Friday, June 19; in celebration of Freedom Day. Undoubtedly, natives of the state are welcome to view the flag at the east entrance of the State Capitol; and are encouraged to practice social distancing while wearing face masks.
Finally A National Holiday
Juneteenth is a ( now) national holiday to commemorate the freedom of slaves under the terms of 1862 Emancipation Proclamation. Newly freed black people celebrated the first ‘freedom day’ in 1866 to commemorate liberation- with food, singing, and the reading of spirituals. Some of the food eaten would be soul food cuisine, bar bq meats, and red beverages/desserts. The red represents the blood that was shed by our ancestors for the fight for equality.
When the holiday was first celebrated in Texas; with the big state being the most remote of the slave states. The name of the observance, ‘Juneteenth’ is a combination of June and the nineteenth; hence the name and the day we celebrate.
Finally, after a worldwide protest to end police brutality, companies like Nike, Target and even Spotify; are now recognizing the honorable day as a national holiday giving their employees the day off to observe.
Target Corp. is closing it’s Minneapolis headquarters Friday and offered time and a half for hourly employees.
Juneteenth Is Becoming More Recognized
Otherwise known as ‘Freedom Day’ currently is formally observed in 47 states and the District of Columbia; with Wisconsin joining. Thus, Juneteenth is now a nationally recognized holiday that commemorates the day that slaves were free, which wasn’t until the late 1800’s. as the 32nd state to recognize this day in 2009.
The colors of the Freedom flag are red, white and blue — to represent the American heritage, to acknowledge that the slaves were Americans. And the star in the middle pays homage to Texas, while the bursting “new star” on the “horizon” of the red and blue fields represents new freedom and new people.
Regardless, this year in particular; Juneteenth is aggressively celebrated as we fight for freedom and equality like never before. A global Black Lives Matter movement has taken the world by storm, and so this holiday; we relish in our history, we’re thankful to our ancestors; and look forward to bearing many Juneteenth celebrations and traditions in the years to come.
3 Thoughts