Good afternoon,
This week on Capitol Hill, the Senate voted unanimously, and all but 14 members of the House voted to make Juneteenth a national holiday.
The speed of the actions were remarkable when one considers that many had not heard of Juneteenth until fairly recently. Media mentions of the day in Delaware only date back to 2015
The holiday has its roots in Texas, where it has been a state holiday since the late 1970s. In Texas, a quarter of a million slaves did not get word of the 1863 Emancipation Proclamation from President Lincoln until Union troops arrived in Galveston on June, 19th 1865.
Sadly, the proclamation did not apply to Delaware since it was a border state. By the Civil War, the number of slaves had declined to 1,800 due to a changing agricultural economy that moved away from tobacco. In addition, the number of free people of color totaled 20,000.
June 19 was celebrated in Texas, Oklahoma, and other states in that region since 1865. With the migration to the west and other areas, celebrations took place around the nation.
Last year, awareness of the holiday spread after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis and an initial decision by the Trump election campaign to hold a rally on Juneteenth in Tulsa.
The rally, which was moved to another day, also added to the awareness of the Tulsa massacre a century ago. During those dark days, white mobs destroyed a once vibrant Black community, with a still undetermined number of deaths. No one was prosecuted.
Sadly, racial politics remain in Delaware and elsewhere, with a few people unhappy with Juneteenth and Black History being taught in schools, not to mention its status as a holiday.
They claim the designation seeks to divide rather than unite a nation. Native Americans could make the same claim about July 4.
In signing the legislation, President Biden said, “Great nations don’t ignore their most painful moments.” The president is entirely correct. – Doug Rainey.
