This Juneteenth, the current political and cultural divisions in America are wide and deep. Our most recently recognized federal holiday is still poorly understood and not yet universally embraced, but it should be a day that unites all Americans around the hard-fought achievement of emancipation.
The day commemorates when news of the abolition of American slavery finally reached the strongest remaining pocket of Southern resistance to emancipation in Galveston, Texas. This news arrived on June 19, 1865, by virtue of Union General Gordon Granger’s General Order No. 3, which he issued after the Union 25th Army Corps — primarily composed of African American Union troops — occupied and liberated Galveston. As a result, 250,000 formerly enslaved people in Texas learned for the first time that they were free, and the Union Army would protect their freedom.
With the ratification of the 13th Amendment on Dec. 18, 1865, slavery was abolished across the country, sweeping up those who Abraham Lincoln’s final Emancipation Proclamation left behind.
June 19 became a new celebration — dubbed Jubilee Day, then Emancipation Day, and finally Juneteenth. The celebration slowly spread across the nation and was finally recognized as a federal holiday in the wake of the killing of George Floyd in 2021.
So now what? First, we need to recognize that none of this is inevitable. At the time of the American founding, slavery was a universal institution throughout time and across the globe. But with the Declaration of Independence, opposition to the infernal institution became heated. We hold as a self-evident truth that all men are created equal, endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights, including life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Slavery in the land of the free is a grand contradiction. Many in the founding generation attacked it. After generations of struggle and awakening, the Declaration broke open the Old World’s tyranny.
Second, let’s not forget that it was not the Emancipation Proclamation that actually liberated the slaves. If the Union failed in battle, no one would be freed. The Union Army, which fought and bled to achieve victory, gave the Emancipation Proclamation its force.
The Union suffered 642,427 casualties: 110,110 were killed in battle, 224,580 died from disease and 275,174 were wounded in action. More than 30,000 were taken as prisoners of war. The Union had 2,489,836 White soldiers, 178,975 African American soldiers and 3,520 Native American soldiers. At the time, the total population of the North and South was only 31.4 million, including enslaved people. In other words, Union losses equated to 2% of the overall population, and a much higher percentage of the North. Extrapolated to today, that is the equivalent of six million people.
Third, the struggle for equality and liberty, grounded in the Declaration, shattered shackles beyond slavery. Women were enfranchised, and civil rights movements propelled monumental change. Channeling the promise of the Declaration, America led the way in liberating people at home and countries abroad.
And yet here we are now, at each other’s throats, fighting in a toxic political environment, where the loudest and most radical voices condemn America as if nothing has changed in the last 250 years. Surely we are not perfect, and never will be. But to ignore the earth-shattering changes wrought by the Declaration is farcical.
This Juneteenth, let’s commemorate the Declaration, emancipation and the sacrifices of all those who, over time, have brought greater equality and liberty to America and the world. Let’s look at each other as the trustees of that great heritage, united in a spirit based on the Declaration. Take that duty seriously and protect the blessings we too often take for granted. Otherwise, we will surely lose them. Just look around.
Hon. Michael Warren is an Oakland County Michigan Circuit Court judge and author of the newly released book “The Revolutionary Words that Forged America — The Definitive Guide to the Declaration of Independence” (Republic Books 2026).
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Juneteenth should unite all Americans | Opinion
Reporting by Michael Warren / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Michael Warren | USA TODAY Network
