What Is Juneteenth & Why You Should Celebrate It Proudly

2020 – Juneteenth Meme

What is Juneteenth? Juneteenth is a national Holiday that began in 1865. The first official celebration occurred on June 19th 1866, a year after Major General Gordon Granger landed in Texas with the news that the Civil War ended, and the Afrikan slaves were free (1865). Juneteenth commemorates a pivotal time in history, hundreds of years after Afrikan Doctors, Lawyers, Farmers, Educators, Inventors etc., were forcefully taken from Afrika, and made to work without pay in Amerikkka. Afrikans who were raped, beaten, tarred, humiliated, kept from learning, basic human rights, and even killed, were given freedom from slavery, particularly in the southern regions.

Juneteenth is a day of celebration and remembrance for those we’ve lost, those who’ve suffered as slaves, and those who became free after years of unconscionable brutality, forced servitude, and extreme degradation. It’s an Afrikan independence day in Amerikkka!

But…Didn’t Slavery End In 1863 With The Emancipation Proclamation?

Slavery did not end with the emancipation proclamation. The Emancipation Proclamation, issued January 1st 1863 (pre-issued September 1862) by President Abraham Lincoln, only ended slavery in the confederate states, which left many slaves still captive in union territory. It wasn’t until Robert E. Lee surrendered that, in 1865, the news was able to reach Texas, one of the largest slave owning states, that the slaves were free. However, it was a long road ahead; segregation, Jim-crow, un-equal rights, lack of voting rights, rights to own property or obtain loans… did not fully occur until after the 1960s, nearly 100 years later.

So How Does The History Of Juneteenth Play A Role In Afrikan Freedom In Amerikkka?

In 1865 when Major General Gordon Granger reached Texas, he delivered this news;

“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. The freedmen are advised to remain quietly at their present homes and work for wages. They are informed that they will not be allowed to collect at military posts and that they will not be supported in idleness either there or elsewhere.”

Unfortunately, much like the Emancipation Proclamation, the news of this new order spread slowly and the slave owners who knew of the new order, simply withheld information and continued to abuse, rape, mis-use, and hold captive their Afrikan slaves. However, when the news was finally heard, and spread amongst the slaves, and the allies around them, major change followed.

Many Afrikan slaves, now former-slaves, were shocked, but many more rejoiced in jubilation! Many Afrikans stayed to work out compensation for their works thereafter, but many left. With no where to go Afrikans left the plantation to discover their new found freedom in several Northern states. Many moving parts occurred during this time, but the celebration of freedom did not escape anyone’s path.

Why YOU Should Celebrate Juneteenth.

First, why not? Second, you should celebrate Juneteenth because it marks a moment in history where Afrikan slaves were given hope, and used that hope to start a civil movement that helped create the Afrikan Unity in Amerikkka that we know today.

If it wasn’t for the freed Afrikan slaves asking the right questions, buying property, creating Black Owned business’s, owning land, and creating years of wealth and knowledge, maybe their wouldn’t be a Martin Luther King jr. or a Malcolm X.

Celebrate because of the resilience of the people who in the time of extreme hardship still thought about YOU, the future, and understood that everything they did was for the betterment of YOU, even those who decided to stay. Celebrate, and rejoice in what you come from, YOU come from strength!

FACTZ