As the United States prepares to celebrate its 250th anniversary this summer, the Juneteenth holiday celebrating the end of slavery has taken on a prominent role as an occasion for activism, amid worry from some organizers that civil rights have been eroded.
June 19 each year marks the day in 1865 when the last remaining enslaved people in Galveston, Texas, received word from Union troops that President Abraham Lincoln had proclaimed the end of slavery in the U.S., more than two years after his Emancipation Proclamation and a little more than two months after Lincoln’s assassination. Congress officially designated Juneteenth as a federal holiday in 2021 through legislation, which then-President Joe Biden signed.
Activism and resistance have become a prominent part of marking Juneteenth as much as celebration. Juneteenth holiday supporters said they worry, as U.S. Supreme Court decisions have chipped away at the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the Trump administration has targeted diversity, equity and inclusion programs for elimination and some elected officials question the value of teaching Black history.
To mark the holiday this year, communities and organizations across Michigan are hosting events including political panels, “resistance summits” and record expungement fairs in a bid to reduce social barriers and expand rights.
“We have a saying: We’re not free until all of us are free,” said Elder Leslie Mathews, the director of faith and justice at Michigan United Action.
Despite it being a federal holiday, President Donald Trump removed Juneteenth from the National Park Service’s list of free days. On Juneteenth 2025, Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social that there are “too many non-working holidays in America” but didn’t attack Juneteenth directly.
“It is costing our Country $BILLIONS OF DOLLARS to keep all of these businesses closed,” Trump said on June 19. “The workers don’t want it either! Soon we’ll end up having a holiday for every once working day of the year.”
Mathews said she didn’t use to take Juneteenth seriously. But events in recent years— from the 2020 murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officers to restrictions on reproductive care access in some states to rising living costs — have made her question the foundational idea of the U.S. as a truly free place, she said.
Michigan United Action has planned a variety of events and efforts throughout June, including a “buycott” movement encouraging people to support Black-owned businesses and a Wednesday evening celebration of the late Rev. Jesse Jackson’s life and accomplishments.
The celebration also served as a call to action for people to vote in this year’s midterm elections. Mathews said the organization can’t wait in its push for voting this cycle, because the election will determine the future of policies around crucial issues like education, social safety nets, free speech and voting rights.
“So, Juneteenth and resistance is crucial this year,” she said. “Every conversation that we have as activists, advocates (and) organizers are crucial, because every single one of those conversations have to point us to coming together.”
Safe & Just Michigan is hosting a number of conviction expungement fairs around the state this month as part of its Clean Slate Program. The Clean Slate program director, Kamau Sandiford, said organizers help attendees fill out petition paperwork and give them guidance on the process of filing a petition in court to have their conviction expunged.
Sandiford said Safe & Just Michigan frequently has to correct misconceptions that people with felony convictions can’t vote in the state, which is not the case in Michigan.
“Even if they are eligible for an expungement, they can certainly exercise their right to vote, and that’s something that we would encourage, regardless of party affiliation,” he said.
Harry Weaver III, Oakland County’s chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer, said he has a consistent message to communicate each Juneteenth: Black history is American history.
But he said this year has particular significance to him because celebrating the U.S.’s 250th anniversary provides a unique opportunity to emphasize the importance of Black people in the country’s history.
“It gives us a literally once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to highlight again that Black history is American history, and there is not a single era of American history that has not in some way involved Black Americans,” Weaver said.
Oakland County adopted Juneteenth as its own holiday in 2021, the same year that it was designated a federal holiday.
This year’s celebration on Thursday featured a theatrical presentation about the civil rights contributions of Betty Shabazz (a civil rights advocate and wife of Malcolm X), Myrlie Evers-Williams (who sought justice and got a conviction in 1994 in the 1963 assassination of her husband, Medgar Evers) and Coretta Scott King, the wife of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. The festival also had a timeline display about crucial moments and people who influenced history from enslavement to emancipation.
Despite the concern about slippage in civil rights, Weaver said he doesn’t despair about what that means for rights in the future. Every generation of Black Americans has had a battle to fight, he said, from the Jim Crow laws to the upswell of activism in the Civil Rights Movement to resistance to policies such as affirmative action and Black history curricula.
“I have no reason to believe that we won’t push through this particular obstacle,” Weaver said. “And it’s not without the help of a number of allies outside of the Black community, who are truly for justice across the board, regardless of who may be on the other side of it.”
Elena Reciato, who will enter the historically Black Spelman College in the fall as a student, performed “Lift Every Voice and Sing” at Oakland County’s Juneteenth celebration. Ahead of the festival, she said in an interview she believes the song — which is also known as the Black national anthem — honors people who lived before her and dreamed of living free from slavery.
“Juneteenth honors the hard work and sacrifices that people years ago had to make, and how far we have come, so when people hear me sing, I hope they understand the importance of the words,” Reciato said.
Michigan United is organizing buses for anyone who wants to travel to Washington, D.C., during the Trump administration’s 250th anniversary celebration to demonstrate on the National Mall.
Trump said Monday he would be closely involved in a marquee celebration of the country’s 250th anniversary, casting the July Fourth event on the National Mall as one of his political rallies.
“We are going to host the most spectacular TRUMP RALLY of them all, a ‘TRIBUTE TO AMERICA,’” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
The event is scheduled to feature the planned largest fireworks show in history, call attention to Trump’s changes to the Lincoln Memorial’s Reflecting Pool and feature a selection of patriotic and classic songs — including Trump’s own playlist, the president added.
Mathews said organizers want to send a message of wanting an inclusive America that’s a true democracy, not an oligarchy, and puts the needs of everyday people above billionaires.
“Juneteenth is more relevant today than it was the first day, almost 150 years ago,” Mathews said. “That’s not one we can archive.”
jcardi@detroitnews.com
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Juneteenth recognized as symbol of resistance amid worry over civil rights progress
Reporting by Julia Cardi, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Julia Cardi, The Detroit News | USA TODAY Network
