America’s “second Independence Day” represents an end to America’s ugliest chapter

BY GALE METCALF

It is called by many America’s second Independence Day, Juneteenth, a day identifying the end of slavery in the United States.

Its foundation is June 19, 1865 with a decree in Galveston, Texas announcing to 250,000 slaves in Galveston and throughout Texas that they were emancipated.

Its founding is June 19, 1866 in Galveston, Texas when from among those freed slaves came “Jubilee Day” as they celebrated the day learning of their freedom exactly one year earlier in their barrier island city.

Former slaves in Houston, Austin and other Texas cities and communities picked up on that when June 19 came around again.

Then again and again as each June 19 arrived on the calendar. More and more former slaves everywhere began taking note of what would one day become known with pride as “Juneteenth.” They began holding their own celebrations.

Today, Juneteenth is a national holiday, with celebrations and programs throughout the United States, including right here in the Tri-Cities.

Its significance now even reaches beyond the borders of the United States, with organizers of events in other countries recognizing Juneteenth not only for the day identifying the abolition of slavery, but also “to honor the culture and achievements of African Americans.”

Many advocates had called for the abolition of slavery through the years leading up to the Civil War, including Abraham Lincoln before he assumed the presidency in 1861. But it took the Civil War as the catalyst for ending slavery probably faster than it would have.

Ultimately, 11 states seceded from the Union to form the Confederate States of America. It was these states Abraham Lincoln aimed his Emancipation Proclamation at, first as an inducement he hoped would bring the Union back together again as a collection of 34 states, but which ultimately became the architect to freeing 3.5 million to 4 million slaves.

He first issued a preliminary Emancipation Proclamation on September 22, 1862 which would have allowed the Confederate states to keep slavery in place and for citizens of the south to continue owning slaves. But, the Confederate states had to cease the rebellion and rejoin the Union by January 1, 1863, some rights were to be given slaves, and slavery was not to be expanded.

The Confederate states did not accept the conditions, and Lincoln issued his final Emancipation Proclamation on New Year’s Day 1863 proclaiming slaves of the Confederacy to be free.

Initially, to Lincoln the main goal of the Civil War was to bring the Confederate states back into the fold and preserve the Union as it was before the rebellion leading to the Confederacy. By the end of the war, ending slavery had become a paramount issue.

The Emancipation Proclamation did not apply to all slave-holding states. Border states remaining loyal to the Union, including Kentucky, Delaware, Maryland and Missouri, were among those exempt.

Lincoln had what might be deemed three paramount reasons for applying his proclamation to the Confederate states.

– He considered the emancipation to be a military measure to weaken the south and bring an ending to its rebellion and the Civil War. With slaves still as a resource for the Confederacy, it freed up more men to serve in the Confederate military and engage in battle with Union forces, thereby extending and perhaps even winning the war.

– Among the 23 states remaining loyal to the Union after the Confederacy formed, there were some which were slave states like those in the Confederacy. President Lincoln didn’t want to risk alienating them, leading to further weakening of the Union should they withdraw too.

– He believed only a Constitutional Amendment could totally eradicate slavery because he believed slavery was embedded in the Constitution. Although the word “slavery” was nowhere to be found until the 13th Amendment passed Constitutionally abolishing it, wording was such that the Constitution acknowledged slavery’s existence. Lincoln believed a president could not violate the Constitution.

Before the 13th Amendment, the most notable provision was Article 1, Section 2 stipulating that for purposes of determining the number of seats to be apportioned in the U.S. House of Representatives, and for direct taxing purposes, slaves (though a different word was used) would count as “three-fifths” of a person.

The Emancipation Proclamation went into effect on January 1, 1863, more than two years before the Civil War ended. Slaves were physically freed piecemeal as Union forces advanced and took control of Confederate territory, releasing them from their bondage.

Texas was the most remote of the Confederate states and the last to which slaves learned they were free. It came 2 ½ years after issuing of the Emancipation Proclamation, and more than two months after Robert E. Lee surrendered Confederate forces at Appomattox on April 9, 1865, ending the Civil War.

On June 19, 1865, Union Army Major General Gordon Granger took command of some 2,000 Union troops only recently arrived in Galveston to oversee Reconstruction and to see to freeing of slaves in Texas. General Granger’s proclamation that day started out stating simply: “The people of Texas are informed that in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free.”

A Joint Resolution of Congress was offered up in January 1865 passing the 13th Amendment for ending slavery in the United States. It was ratified on December 6, 1865 after meeting the Constitutional requirement of state legislatures from 75 percent of existing states giving approval. It immediately terminated slavery in the last two states employing it, Delaware and Kentucky, both loyal to the Union during the Civil War, thus ending slavery forever.

Early Juneteenth celebrations included prayer services, wearing of new clothes to represent new-found freedom, singing spirituals, cultural identification, family picnics, cookouts, readings of the Emancipation Proclamation, speeches and other comforting, joyful and relaxing events. Through the years, educational programs, parades and festivals have come to be included.

Blacks began using the word “Juneteenth” as early as the 1890s in place of “jubilee,” and it began taking hold. In 1909, a Texas periodical, The Current Issue, used the word Juneteenth for the first time.

On January 1, 1980, Texas became the first state to recognize Juneteenth as a state holiday. On June 17, 2021 Juneteenth became the 11th federal holiday.