Juneteenth: Freedom Praxis and Anti-Hunger Rallying Call

Sofia Charlot | Emerson National Hunger Fellow | Alliance to End Hunger

June 19th, 1865, marks the day that Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas, to bring official news of the end of the Civil War and slavery. Even though the Emancipation Proclamation became official on January 1st, 1863, two-and-a-half years before, news spread slowly, and some states resisted. The proclamation had only freed enslaved African-Americans in Confederate states that were under the Union’s control. Slavery persisted in border states until Congress ratified the 13th Amendment in December 1865. In Texas, white enslavers withheld the news until troops made official accountments or until the end of a harvest. In extreme cases, they forced the newly freed African-Americans back to work or imposed deadly violence on the formerly enslaved people who fled plantations. Enslavers even moved to Texas to evade the Union Army’s enforcement of the end of slavery. On June 19th, freedom was not absolute. Regardless, African Americans celebrated the spirit of freedom and possibility on that date starting in 1866.

The newly freed population of Galveston had many different reactions to the proclamation:

“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 rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired laborer.”

Some remained in Galveston in an employee-employer relationship with their former enslavers. Others fled the plantations with their newfound freedom; some headed North towards the Union States, and others poured into the neighboring states in search of family. Their future was undetermined, but the possibilities were endless. Juneteenth marked a pivot point for enslaved African-Americans because with freedom came the uncertainty of self-determination. What was next for the 250,000 formerly enslaved African-Americans in Texas? Regardless of the various paths chosen, on June 19th, 1866, many African-Americans returned to Galveston.

To celebrate, formerly enslaved African-Americans shared stories about the past, held prayer services, and did commemorative readings of the Emancipation Proclamation. They engaged in outdoor activities like rodeos, fishing, horseback riding, and baseball games. When local whites barred them from using public spaces, newly freed African-Americans gathered on church grounds and rural areas until they raised enough money to purchase land. Some states prohibited the enslaved by law from dressing up in elaborate clothing, so on June 19th, they dressed in their best garments to underscore their freedom. The barbeque pit was the focal point of these celebrations. That remained true for the decades after the first celebration. People brought specially prepared dishes and indulged in foods like lamb, pork, and beef that were not always readily available.

The institution of slavery created conditions of pervasive social death; the Juneteenth celebration became a practice of social life for Black folk. This practice reenergized the newly freed folk and their descendants in the face of uncertainty. Juneteenth celebrations provided an opportunity to reconnect with family members, spread generational knowledge via storytelling, and encourage self-improvement amongst each other. The gatherings incorporated food, fellowship, community, leisure, and luxury. All of which energized African-Americans from Galveston to practice freedom even in the face of racial oppression. Black people convening in their own spaces, on their terms, with their own practices, in the very place determined to maintain their subjugation was a revolutionary act itself.

As African-Americans from Galveston migrated to other states, so did the Juneteenth tradition. However, celebrations started to decline in the early 1900s. Jim Crow posed a constant threat to Black freedom, social life, and ultimately Juneteenth. Schools erased the holiday from the curriculum when they emphasized January 1st, 1863, as the official date of emancipation. The Great Depression left families with minimal funds to celebrate. It also forced people into urban spaces to find work with employers who did not allow for time off for celebrations. By World War II, African-Americans were not enthusiastic about celebrating the conditions of second-class citizenship.

Still, Juneteenth celebrations endured as social movements and activists pulled from the past to inform the present and inspire the future. In 1968, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. coordinated The Poor People’s Campaign March on Washington for jobs and freedom. When the campaign lost momentum, organizers ended the demonstration on June 19th, 1968. This was not a coincidence, as many demonstrators returned to their hometowns and started their own Juneteenth celebratory traditions.

The murder of George Floyd and and killing of Breonna Taylor in 2020 resulted in widespread protests against police brutality. While sheltered at home during the COVID-19 global pandemic, the nation had a front-row seat to the latest instances of racial injustice. Scholars drew connections between this current social movement and the post-Civil War era, arguing that both represent moments where social norms and practices were fractured.

Anti-hunger advocates echoed these sentiments as they considered how systemic racial inequity affected hunger in the United States. The social unrest and ongoing pandemic prompted many anti-hunger organizations to start — or recommit to — identify racial inequity as a root cause of hunger. Anti-hunger organizations are redirecting their priorities from the immediate condition of hunger to the policies and practices that created systemic hunger and exacerbated it for Black, Indigenous, Latino/a, and other communities of color. This shifts the goal to end hunger from charity and emergency response to justice and repair.

On June 17th, 2021, President Joe Biden signed legislation that made Juneteenth an official federal holiday. At this pivot point, let us channel the energy of the Black Galvestonians who chose to celebrate social life under the constant threat of social death. In this nebulous time of social progress and regression, this Juneteenth is our chance to gather, reconnect, and recharge for the ongoing struggle against white supremacy and racial inequity.

References:

https://www.juneteenth.com/history/

https://matrix.berkeley.edu/?matrix_seminars=social-death-race-risk-and-representation

https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/poor-peoples-campaign

https://www.pbs.org/wnet/african-americans-many-rivers-to-cross/history/what-is-juneteenth/

https://www.nytimes.com/article/juneteenth-day-celebration.html