What Is Juneteenth?

History

What Is Juneteenth?

Andrea Taylor (COM’68), BU’s senior diversity officer, on the holiday’s origins and why it’s important to commemorate it now

June 15, 2021
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June 15, 2021
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Last month, Boston University announced that it was adding Juneteenth to the University calendar as an official holiday. Celebrated annually on June 19 (BU is observing it on Friday, June 18, this year, because the 19th is a Saturday), the holiday commemorates the date in 1865 that the last enslaved people in the United States learned that slavery had ended. Currently, 47 states—including Massachusetts—have adopted Juneteenth as a holiday. The US Senate voted unanimously on Tuesday to make it a federal holiday, and on Wednesday the US House of Representatives voted 415 to 14 to approve it. It now goes to the president to be signed.

We asked longtime civil rights activist, former BU trustee, and former president and CEO of the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute Andrea Taylor (COM’68), BU’s senior diversity officer, to explain the history behind Juneteenth, the lessons we can learn from it, and how its observance as a holiday factors into the current national conversation around racial justice and equality.

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  • Devin Hahn

    Senior Video Producer

    Devin Hahn

    Devin Hahn creates video content for BU Today, Bostonia online, and The Brink. He is a producer, a cameraman, an editor, and, under duress, a writer. Profile

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There are 2 comments on What Is Juneteenth?

  1. Excellent video on Juneteenth! I encourage all to come down to Galveston and celebrate it in person in the place where Juneteenth was born!

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  2. I saw the June 15, 2021 article. The popular assertion that the slave community in Texas first heard of the Emancipation Proclamation on June 19, 1865, two and a half years after it became effective, is without foundation. Slaves in Texas ran away from slave owners and enlisted in the Union Navy and Union Army beginning in 1863 and enlistments continued in 1864. They had interactions with the Union Navy and Union Army during both years. Slaves ran away from owners in Galveston, Texas, in 1863, and were given protection on Union Navy vessels that were part of the fleet in Galveston Bay. The Trans-Mississippi Department, the last military department in the defunct Confederacy, surrendered on May 26, 1865, and negotiations commenced with Union military representatives. The flag of the United States began being hoisted over evacuated Confederate posts and at ports across Texas on June 1. All negotiations were final on June 5, 1865, and the flag of the United States was raised over the customhouse in Galveston, Texas. The war was officially over. This was weeks before Major General Granger appeared at Galveston. He brought no news to Galveston that all the people did not already know. Major General Granger was an authentic personality. What has been attributed to him is mythological. The Granger saga is a historical blunder. Please consult the book Juneteenth Researchers Incorrect About Slaves In Texas. Thank you.

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