With Black Life in America, you can learn more about how Americans have celebrated Juneteenth through the years.
Black Life in America is the most comprehensive digital collection of primary source documents related to Black American life. It provides access to more than 19,000 global media outlets, including the largest collection of African American newspapers.
What is Juneteenth?
On June 19, 1865, Major General Gordon Granger and 2,000 US Army troops marched into Galveston, Texas, to announce that all enslaved African American people were free. African Americans in Texas have celebrated Juneteenth since 1866.
Early Celebrations of Juneteenth
The earliest articles about Juneteenth available in Black Life in America were published around the turn of the nineteenth century, most from Texas newspapers.
For example, an article published in The San Antonio Light on June 11, 1899, describes the upcoming Juneteenth events.
Highlights included a parade, a church choral performance, and various speakers, along with “a queen of the day and a goddess of liberty.” Celebrants could also expect a cake walk, a “sham battle between the militia companies…and a dance.”
Juneteenth was observed in other parts of the country, too, as shown by a June 22, 1895, article in the Kansas-based Parsons Weekly Blade, an African American newspaper.
A community of “native Texans,” the article states, had just celebrated the city’s first Juneteenth with “sumptuous repasts,” speakers, and a baseball game.
An Official Texas Holiday
Juneteenth became an official Texas holiday in 1979, more than a century after African Americans first began commemorating it.
In an article published in the Midland Reporter Telegram on July 1, 1979, teacher Doris Johnson noted that, “many young black Texans are not aware of Juneteenth…. This generation, if we don’t make history known to them, will forget.”
A Federal Holiday
Juneteenth became a federal holiday in 2021, and you’ll find plenty of articles and opinions about this in the database. The Atlanta Daily World listed Juneteenth in a Dec. 30, 2021, article by the Black information Network, “Black America’s Top Headlines in 2021.”
“The new addition to federal holidays received mixed reviews,” the article states, “some calling for the designation as to teach Black history on a national level, while others said keeping our traditions within our community is a form of honoring them, too.”
Access Black Life in America
To read more articles about Juneteenth through the years, visit Black Life in America. If you are logging in from home, enter your library card number.
Juneteenth Celebration at Clint Hayden Park
The library will be closed on Juneteenth, but we hope you’ll join us at the Juneteenth Celebration at Clint Hayden Park from 5:30 pm-8:30 pm.
Enjoy performances by DJ Mike, M’Power Rhythm, and The Sensations, and more!