From President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, issued on January 1, 1863, until the ratification of the 13th Amendment on December 6, 1865, the trail of freedom for African Americans zigzagged across the states. The proclamation declared that “All persons held as slaves are, and henceforward shall be free.”
This sounded like a now-and-forever freedom.
The road to freedom for the enslaved was not an easy one, even after President Lincoln’s emancipation efforts. In some states, this proclamation was neither obeyed nor enforced. The slavery of African Americans ended in different states at different times.
Texas’s continued slavery after the freedom proclamation was a testament to this fact, along with other seceded and non-seceded states.
On Juneteenth, June 19, 2026, we commemorate and celebrate the freedom of African Americans in the United States. Juneteenth refers to June 19, 1865, the day enslaved people in Texas finally received their freedom, more than 2 ½ years after President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.
Juneteenth symbolizes the end of slavery in America.
What a fitting name!
Juneteenth reminds me of our ancestors’ dialect, the way they talked and used words. They often blended words together.
Juneteenth is a portmanteau. We use these types of words often. What about saying brunch, which is a portmanteau for breakfast and lunch? A portmanteau blends the sounds and meanings of words together.
President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation applied only to the Southern Confederate states. Many of these states used enslaved people to increase their number of soldiers and fighters in the Civil War in support of slavery.
Similarly, the United States Colored Troops (USCT) were an important part of the emancipation efforts and helped to bring about freedom. More than 200,000 African Americans joined and served in the Union Navy and Army. These courageous soldiers fought for their own freedom and the freedom of all enslaved blacks.
Adding the 13th Amendment to the U. S. Constitution, the law of the land, enforced the end of slavery in America. In December 1865, when this national abolition of slavery was signed into law, enslaved people in Kentucky and Delaware gained their freedom.
This patchwork of African American freedom is the fabric of our history, celebrated annually on Juneteenth, June 19.
Every act taken to free enslaved Black Americans is part of Black history and American history. Black people escaped from slave owners; some gained freedom after January 1, 1863; more after the Civil War ended on April 15, 1865; and more after June 19, 1865.
An act of the 117th Congress of the United States, the 13th Amendment abolished slavery in America.
According to Texapedia, African Americans in Texas have celebrated Juneteenth since 1866, and the holiday was officially recognized in 1980.
President Joe Biden recognized Juneteenth as a federal holiday in 2021. The Juneteenth National Independence Day Act was enacted into law and signed by President Joe Biden.
President Biden said, “Juneteenth marks both a long, hard night of slavery and subjugation and the promise of a brighter morning to come.” At the White House signing ceremony, he stated, “This is a day, in my view, of profound weight and profound power, a day in which we remember the moral stain, terrible toll that slavery took on the country and continues to take,” he said.
Let freedom reign for all!
Happy Juneteenth on June 19, 2026!
I hope that you are happy and well.