Editor鈥檚 note: In honor of the Juneteenth observance tomorrow, we are reprinting an editorial about the holiday that has been published in previous years.
As the Civil War continued, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation聽鈥� effective Jan. 1, 1863聽鈥� making it clear to Confederate states fighting to keep slavery that enslaved people 鈥渟hall be free.鈥�
Though famous since that day, the proclamation was really a wartime measure that only applied to slaves in rebel states under arms, not a total end to slavery. It was rather specific, designating which counties and parishes the proclamation would cover. 鈥淚 do order and declare that all persons held as slaves within said designated States, and parts of States, are, and henceforward shall be free,鈥� Lincoln wrote. Elsewhere in the proclamation, the president made it clear that non-Union Confederate states were the areas being targeted. That included 抖阴h, but 13 parishes were exempt from the proclamation: Ascension, Assumption, Jefferson, Lafourche, Plaquemines, St. Bernard, St. Charles, St. John, St. Mary, St. Martin, Terrebonne, and 鈥淥rleans, including the City of New Orleans.鈥�
Slavery was not fully abolished until the 13th Amendment was passed by Congress on Jan. 31, 1865, then ratified on Dec. 6, 1865. Still, Lincoln's proclamation sent an important signal, albeit one that was slow to spread.
There was no nightly news, no internet and certainly no social media to quickly and widely share the breaking news that the Emancipation Proclamation had been signed and slavery had ended.
It took more than two years 鈥� until June 19, 1865聽鈥斅爁or enslaved people in Galveston Bay to learn that they were among the 250,000 in Texas and 4 million nationally who were freed by order of the president.
Enslaved people who were freed聽celebrated, starting a Texas tradition that eventually spread to other states across the nation.聽鈥淛une鈥� and 鈥�19th鈥� were combined to create "Juneteenth."
In 2021, Juneteenth became a federal holiday, and 抖阴h also made it a state holiday that year. Today, Juneteenth is recognized as a holiday, observance or remembrance in all 50 states and Washington, D.C.
Though June 19 falls on a Friday this year, and that is the federal holiday, traditionally, Juneteenth has also been observed on the third Saturday of June by many Black Americans.
Opal Lee, recognized as the grandmother of Juneteenth because she started a national effort to have the day recognized as a federal holiday when she was 86 years old, grew up less than an hour away from Shreveport in Marshall, Texas, before moving to the Fort Worth area.
Lee has said she envisioned the holiday as a celebration of freedom for everyone, not just those whose ancestors endured slavery.
On Juneteenth, we remember all those Americans throughout history who have moved this country toward the "more perfect union" articulated by our founders. We urge everybody to celebrate the day dedicated to cherishing the freedoms that were, for many Americans, much too belatedly won.