Why is it called Juneteenth instead of Emancipation Day? Name origin explored amid nationwide celebrations

Every year on June 19, the USA celebrates a national holiday called Juneteenth, often regarded as the nation’s “second Independence Day”. The day marks the end of slavery and the freedom of Native Americans in the country following the American Civil War that took place between 1861 and 1865.

Formally recognized as Juneteenth (a portmanteau of June and nineteenth), it could have been called Emancipation Day as well. After all, it was former US President Abraham Lincoln who issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, to order immediate and complete abolition of slavery. The declaration read:

“All persons held as slaves, within the states in rebellion, are, and henceforward shall be free.”

Unfortunately, it took two more years for the proclamation to come into proper effect on June 19, 1865. That may be the reason why the name Juneteenth stuck around instead of Emancipation Day.

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Juneteenth marks the official end of slavery in the USA

The USA signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. However, many African Americans were still held captive and forced into slavery, for at least the next eight decades.

Fast forward to April 1861, the American Civil War broke out between the Union (the North) and the Confederacy (the South). At the crux of it was the fight between expanding slavery into the western territories and build more slave states or putting an end to the inhuman practice.

Interestingly, the 16th US President Abraham Lincoln was anti-slavery, which is why on January 1, 1863, he passed the Emancipation Proclamation. He hoped that it would end the Civil War and put an end to slavery in the Confederacy, once and for all, and declare the Union as the winning side.

Unfortunately, slave owners across the country did not agree with Lincoln’s proclamation. In fact, they continued to imprison African Americans and force them into slavery. Not only that, the slaves were deprived of their right to information about the slavery ban.

Finally, after years of struggle, the Civil War ended on April 9, 1865. But this cease-fire was still not enough to stop slavery in the conservative state of Texas.

This is when Major General Gordon Granger, a leader of the Union side and one of the pioneers in the slavery abolition movement, landed in Galveston, Texas on June 19, 1865, and issued a directive demanding that all the remaining slaves be freed, effective immediately. In fact, it was because of him that more than 250,000 slaves became aware of the President’s Emancipation Proclamation. Fortunately, Granger’s policy worked and the slaves eventually became 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 personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor.”

In addition, the former slaves were given the choice to either continue working in exchange for wages or leave.

Since it was June 19 that slavery was formally abolished (although it did take another few months to fully come into effect), June the Nineteenth, or rather Juneteenth became a turning point in American history. It is now widely symbolic of the day African Americans got their freedom and slavery ended in the USA.

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Juneteenth is now a federal holiday

It may seem as an irony, but it was indeed Texas, the state where slavery was most prevalent, which was the first to celebrate Juneteenth in the year 1866. The celebrations included several community-centric events including parades, cookouts, prayer gatherings, church services, cultural performances (rodeos and dances), and public readings of the Emancipation Proclamation. In fact, it was also Texas that first observed June 19 as a holiday.

However, over the years, various communities developed their own customs, for example purchasing land on this day and building public spaces such as the Emancipation Park in Houston, Texas. Still, racism was rampant and Juneteenth was only allowed to be celebrated outside the city/town for many years.

In 1994, the National Juneteenth Observation Foundation was established by a group of African Americans, in New Orleans, Louisiana, that kickstarted the modern-day movement. Their goal was to ensure this day received widespread nationwide, as well as, global recognition.

Ever since Joe Biden took office in 2021, the day has been observed as a national federal holiday after he signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act.

What’s interesting is that, even though Juneteenth is often confused with Emancipation Day, the latter is celebrated on April 16 annually and commemorates the day when Lincoln himself freed over 3000 slaves in Washington D.C.

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