The Real Story of June
Many of America’s most venerable traditions celebrate our country’s slow drift away from its past. It is a national history largely defined by slavery, the stains of which are still visible today.
In a sense, the 19th century was a period when this country’s nascent trajectory turned from the path of barbarism to something closer to supposed equality. One of the most significant days on this journey was June 19, 1865, known for over a century as June.
What happened on June 19, 1865?
June 10 does not evoke the same greatness as the Emancipation Proclamation, a document signed by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863 that legally authorized the release of all enslaved people in the Confederate States of the South. While Lincoln’s signature was both historic and seismic at the time, it was only symbolic when it came to the border states of the Confederation that had slaves but did not formally secede from the Union.
However, two years later, Lincoln’s emancipation pledge was realized in Galveston, Texas, when the troops of Union General Gordon Granger arrived in the city, freeing a quarter of a million from slavery in the heart of the last stronghold of the movable property economy.
What is June?
If the Emancipation Proclamation was a statement of intent that formalized the desire of the free North to destroy slavery and the economic juggernaut it spawned, then June 19 was the day the institution began to collapse completely.
As Harvard historian Henry Louis Gates Jr. wrote for The Root in 2013, the Confederation and its agrarian economy were under stress in the years leading up to Granger’s descent to Galveston, with major cities including the capital Richmond, Virginia lying in ruins after surrender. Union army in 1865. With the progress of the Union, the institution of slavery sought refuge in some border states – which permitted slavery despite not being part of the Confederation – after the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared enslaved people in the Confederate states freed on January 1, 1863.
“After the capture of New Orleans in 1862, slaveholders in Mississippi, Louisiana, and elsewhere in the east migrated to Texas to escape the reach of the Union army,” Gates wrote.
Many of these states operated in a kind of legal lower zone, in which slavery was slowly eradicated in the states of the Confederation, but formally still operated in the border areas. Texas remained a bastion for slaveholders: some 250,000 people were still shackled in the state when Granger arrived on June 19 with 1,800 men under his command.
After the fall of the state, the general issued General Orders No. 3, which noted that “the inhabitants of Texas have been informed that, by the order of the United States executive branch, all slaves are free.” The Union Army spread the news of the Emancipation Proclamation – that the President had freed the innocent from their slavery.
However, as Gates points out, General Orders # 3 did not lead to the immediate collapse of slavery in the state.
On the plantations, owners had to decide when and how to announce the news – or wait for a government agent to arrive – and they were often delayed until the end of the harvest. Even in Galveston, the former Confederate mayor trampled on the army, forcing the liberated people back to work, as historian Elizabeth Hayes Turner detailed in her comprehensive essay June: Emancipation and Remembrance in The Lone Star ‘s Past : Memory and History in Russia. Texas.
But these were the last embers of a dying institution fighting for oxygen, and six months later, in December 1865, the 13th Amendment was officially passed, outlawing slavery in the United States.
How is June 19 celebrated?
A year after Granger’s remarks in 1866, the first June celebration occurred when Galveston’s newly freed men, women, and children celebrated the day with religious services and joint Emancipation Proclamation readings.
Since then, June 19 has been one of the turning points in the broader history of black liberation in the United States. According to history , it is usually associated with “music, barbecues, prayer services and other events,” and since the 19th century it has developed into a national entertainment.
Is 20th June a national holiday?
June 20th is now a national holiday as a more formal bill passed by Congress was recently signed into law by President Joe Biden. The official recognition was largely spurred by the wave of protest and social upheaval in the summer of 2020, which forced the broader segment of the corporate sector to admit it.
Nevertheless, this day has long been recognized to one degree or another by the overwhelming majority of states . Its official introduction as a day off reflects public opinion, as more than a third of Americans supported the move, according to a new Gallup poll . The federal holiday is the proper form of honoring the day it deserves, and we must definitely recognize it on a deeper level every year as we move forward.
This story was originally published on June 15 and has been updated on June 17, 2020 to reflect additional information.