Juneteenth takes place on Monday, June 19. With the holiday fast approaching, we wanted to hear from community members about what Juneteenth means to them, how they like to celebrate it, and why it’s important to commemorate this holiday both in our community and as a nation. Here are their responses:
Lisa Jackson, Savannah African Art Museum, Education and Community Outreach Liaison (pictured above)
Juneteenth is a day of reflection of the journey of my ancestors from both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, those I’ve known and the unknown, but whose spirit lives in me. I have been celebrating Juneteenth for the past 20 years by reflecting, learning, sharing and honoring my history Celebrating the wisdom, perseverance of my ancestors and the victories won; and Planting seeds for our current and future generations. I welcome all to join me at our 3rd Annual Juneteenth Celebration where this is how we will be celebrating.
The 4th of July is one of our nation’s most widely celebrated holidays because the nation’s independence was/is an important part of our history, which we are very proud of. Although the reading of Major General Gordon Granger’s 1865 Special Order # 3 confirmed granting the enslaved a mere semblance of independence, the former enslaved celebrated! And with faith, hope, skills, wisdom and perseverance, they contributed greatly to the building of this nation — and for this, if nothing else, Juneteenth should be celebrated in our community and as a nation!
Julia Pearce, Tybee MLK Human Rights Organization, Co-Founder and Coordinator
The commemoration of Juneteenth is important to our collective national identity. The making of Juneteenth as a federal holiday should make us reflective and proud of our country. We, African Americans throughout the diaspora, wait on America to officially come to grips with the legacy of slavery. The Juneteenth national commemoration is a major step in that direction. Juneteenth is the true liberation of our Nation, not the 4th of July.
Juneteenth honors the date, June 19, 1865, when the last Confederate community of enslaved Americans in Galveston, Texas, received word that they had been freed from bondage two years earlier, January 1, 1863. Only through the Thirteenth Amendment did emancipation end slavery throughout the United States.
We as a nation are proud of ourselves for standing up to rid America of tyranny from Great Britain. At the onset of the War for Independence, approximately 500,000 African Americans lived in the colonies, of whom some 450,000 (90 percent) were enslaved; that was 19% of the US population — yet and still most Americans celebrate the 4th of July as a freedom holiday. It was freedom for some but profitable skin trade made it horrific for others. America has never had a war where Black men and women did not serve. We love America even through slavery, reconstruction Jim Crow lynchings, KKK, redlining drug war and mass incarceration. Juneteenth is a holiday of triumph for humanity.
For the last seven years, Tybee MLK Human Rights Organization has commemorated Juneteenth with a Wade-In into the Atlantic Ocean. The same ocean our ancestors crossed withstanding subhuman treatment, and came here and built a nation.
I write this as I stand at Elmina Slave Castle, Cape Coast, Ghana where atrocities that took place before exit through The Door of No Return before the brutal middle passage. Then centuries of bondage — the history of Black folks in America is the true brave resilience spirit Americans pride themselves to possess.
Juneteenth is freedom day for everyone — not just some people.
Moncello Stewart, Greater Savannah Black Chamber of Commerce, President
Juneteenth means turning hope to reality. I celebrate Juneteenth by first reflecting and then acting. I reflect on the gains that we have seen as African Amercians, and then I act by supporting organizations and businesses that would help our community see real freedom.
It is important to commemorate this in both ways. Juneteenth came with a hefty price tag. The price tag is the many lives lost. So it is important that we commemorate so that we can build upon it and honor those that came before us.
