Juneteenth is an American holiday observed on June 19 that commemorates the notice of the emancipation of enslaved African Americans in Galveston Bay, Texas in 1865, two years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. Juneteenth is a time of celebration but also one of sadness for Black Americans in the United States. The speakers here acknowledge the bittersweet nature of the holiday—while it is a time to celebrate freedom and Black empowerment, it is also an opportunity to reflect on how much more work remains to be done until liberation is realized.
1.
Juneteenth has never been a celebration of victory, or an acceptance of the way things are. Instead, it’s a celebration of progress. It’s an affirmation that despite the most painful parts of our history, things do get better. America can change.
—President Barack Obama, Statement on the Observance of Juneteenth, June 19, 2015
Former President Barack Obama captured the duality of the Juneteenth holiday in his statement in observance of the day in 2015. However, as might be expected from the first Black president, he focused on how it is a celebration of progress, referring to the advancement of Black people in the United States. It is an optimistic message at its core.
2.
If people can be taught to hate, they can be taught to love. But we need to know, you can’t erase history. So, let’s learn from it and be damned sure it doesn’t happen again.
—Ms. Opal Lee, “Grandmother of Juneteenth,” Spectrum News, June 16, 2022
Opal Lee is a civil rights activist from Fort Worth, Texas, who advocated for decades for Juneteenth to be designated a national holiday. In 2021, her campaign succeeded when President Joe Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act, earning her the nickname “Grandmother of Juneteenth.” Ms. Lee describes Juneteenth as a learning opportunity but also as a “celebration of freedom.”
3.
In the final analysis, it will be shown that platitudes and niceties are one thing but having courage and taking real action on this issue is another. Let us honor this day by working toward a nation in which Black lives and Black votes are protected and respected.
—Congresswoman Maxine Waters, statement on the passage of the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act, June 16, 2021
In her statement in recognition of the new national holiday of Juneteenth in 2021, Black Congresswoman Maxine Waters emphasizes that while it is an important gesture to acknowledge the Black community in the United States, a holiday isn’t enough. She urges people to “hav[e] courage and tak[e] real action” to advance civil rights.
Check out these inspiring quotes from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. that will enliven you into action.
4.
The way it was explained to me, the 19th of June wasn’t the exact day the Negro was freed. But that’s the day they told them that they was free … And my daddy told me that they whooped and hollered and bored holes in trees with augers and stopped it up with [gun] powder and light and that would be their blast for the celebration.
—son of a formerly enslaved person, as recalled by Charles Morgan, quoted in Walter Wiggins, O Freedom!
As you might imagine, getting the news of emancipation was a critical moment for enslaved Black Americans in Texas. It is shocking to consider that, as this quote points out, they were denied their freedom for years in Confederate states such as Texas until 2,000 Union troops arrived with the news. Tragically, while Juneteenth commemorates the notice of 1865, the last enslaved person in Texas was not freed until 1942.
5.
The real truth has not been told, so we must continue to tell the truth and remind people what the 19th of June means. We are Americans and we must have what America has promised, and that is justice and equality.
—Nettie Hinton, Civil Rights activist, San Antonio Express-News, June 14, 2021
Civil Rights activist Nettie Hinton, like many leaders in the Black community, uses Juneteenth as an opportunity to reemphasize the need for “justice and equality” for Black Americans in the United States today. Like President Barack Obama, Hinton believes the holiday reminds us of the need for progress towards a better country. Elsewhere, she states, “We must continue to protest, so America is the America it’s supposed to be.”
6.
Every Black person you meet is a MIRACLE. We are descended of lineages meant to be destroyed by slavery or colonization. Our lives are hard-fought and hard-earned. We are priceless. … THAT is my happy #Juneteenth.
—Brittany Packnett Cunningham, activist and MSNBC analyst, Twitter, June 19, 2020
In the midst of the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020 that highlighted the ongoing injustices against the Black community in the United States, activist and podcaster Brittany Cunningham took the opportunity on Juneteenth to emphasize how priceless Black lives are. Cunningham celebrates that Black people today are descendants of people who faced injustices like slavery and colonization and survived.
7.
They can laugh, but they can’t deny us. They can curse and kill us but they can’t destroy us. This land is ours because we come out of it, we bled in it, our tears watered it, we fertilized it with our dead. So the more of us they destroy, the more it becomes filled with the spirit of our redemption.
—Ralph Ellison, Juneteenth: A Novel, published posthumously, 1999
Writer Ralph Ellison, best known for his novel Invisible Man, wrote another novel about the complicated legacy of Juneteenth. The novel, Juneteenth, was published after Ellison’s death in 1999. This poignant quote from the novel emphasizes the resilience of Black people in the United States, a theme that reappears over and over in Juneteenth commemorations.
8.
I have spent over half my life teaching love and brotherhood, and I feel that it is better to continue to try to teach or live equality and love than it would be to have hatred or prejudice. Everyone living together in peace and harmony and love—that’s the goal we seek.
—Rosa Parks, My Story, with Jim Haskins, 1992
Rosa Parks is most famous for her refusal to give up her seat to a white man on the bus in Montgomery, Alabama in 1955, kicking off the Montgomery Bus boycott. Beyond this one instance, Parks was a lifelong civil rights activist. In this quote from her autobiography, she reflects on what she was hoping to achieve with her activism: “everyone living together in peace and harmony and love.”
9.
Juneteenth represents liberation and it belongs to us. It is a constant reminder that Black freedom is predestined, that only we can tell our stories and that there is no freedom, without Black freedom.
—Dannese Mapanda, COO of The Gathering for Justice, 2022
In a twist on the message delivered by civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer “nobody’s free until everybody’s free,” civil rights activist Dannese Mapanda notes on Juneteenth that “there is no freedom, without Black freedom.” She describes Black freedom as predestined, meaning “foreordained” or “inevitable.”
10.
Despite all that blood and red and anger, there have been audacious dreamers in the African American community whose imaginations and hopes made our country arrive at something that is both larger and better than what we started as.
—poet Amanda Gorman, NPR Morning Edition, June 17, 2022
First National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman became famous after she read a poem at the inauguration of President Joe Biden in 2021. Before and since, she has used her unique platform to advocate for issues close to her heart, including the civil rights of the Black community. In an interview in 2022, Gorman describes that community as one full of “audacious dreamers.” Audacious is a powerful word meaning “extremely bold and daring” or “fearless.”
While Juneteenth has been celebrated for over 150 years by the Black community, it is one of the newest national holidays. If you want to know more about its history and how it is traditionally celebrated, check out our article on Juneteenth here.
