Judson L. Jeffries is a regular contributor to the Columbus Dispatch.
Juneteenth holds a special place in my heart.
In June 2001, I along with several friends and Purdue University colleagues, put on the first Juneteenth extravaganza in Lafayette, Indiana.
In the days leading up to the festivities, television and local newspaper reporters chronicled the origins and the history of Juneteenth. Prior to that summer, many Tippecanoe County residents had undoubtedly never heard of Juneteenth. Held at a nearby park, residents were treated to Black history presentations, poetry and music.
Thanks to the outpouring support of the Black community, there was enough food that day to feed a battalion.
Although many saw Juneteenth as an occasion for celebration, the organizers of the event were sure to impress upon the attendees the significance of Juneteenth and its place in Americana, thus the presentations covered such topics as the Civil War, the Reconstruction era and the Civil Rights Act of 1866.
Why Juneteenth is celebrated
Twenty years after our Juneteenth event, on June 17, 2021, Juneteenth became a national holiday when the “117th Congress enacted and President Joe Biden signed the Juneteenth Independence Day Act into Law.”
By doing so that law established Juneteenth as an official paid holiday for federal employees, commemorating June 19,1865, as the day when enslaved African Americans in the Gulf Coast city of Galveston, Texas, with a population of no more 8,000 people at the time, received the news of their emancipation courtesy of Major General Gordon Granger who rode into town and informed them that slavery was no longer legal.
It should surprise no one that the following year saw Galveston’s Black residents put on the country’s first Juneteenth celebration.
Since that time Juneteenth activities and celebrations can be found in thousands of cities across America where there are Black residents. Columbus is just one of many cities where Juneteenth celebrations are held in the Buckeye State.
Biden’s connection
Biden’s role in the making of Juneteenth into a national holiday must be understood against the backdrop of the goings-on in his home state of Delaware. That state formally commemorated Juneteenth as a recognized statewide celebration in 2000.
Recognizing and championing the importance of Juneteenth was former Democratic State Senator Margaret Rose Henry, the first African American Women elected to the Delaware Senate and community organizer Bernie Wilkins in concert with the Delaware Juneteenth Association, an organization Wilkins founded years earlier.
That same year, “the Delaware General Assembly passed legislation designating the third Saturday in the month of June as Juneteenth National Freedom Day.”
In 2021 Delaware “elevated Juneteenth to an official paid state holiday after Democratic Governor John Carney signed House Bill 119 into law.”
It is believed that more than 100 million U.S. citizens celebrate Juneteenth.
Although the celebrations of Juneteenth are marked by food, music, games, history presentations and family gatherings it should also be a time for reflection and discussion about something called freedom.
What is freedom, actually? What does it look like? Does everyone in this country enjoy it? Am I doing my part to ensure that everyone does? Does, freedom come at a cost? If so, what’s the price for freedom and how many of us are willing to pay that cost?
As Americans these are the kinds of questions we should ask ourselves on this important day and at this critical hour.
Judson L. Jeffries is a regular contributor to the Columbus Dispatch.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Juneteenth is about freedom. We can’t forget that | Opinion
Reporting by Judson L. Jeffries, Guest Columnist / The Columbus Dispatch
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Judson L. Jeffries, Guest Columnist | USA TODAY Network
